Living Life
by aquinna
Summary: AU -- Tim has just figured out what he wants out of life. He's really excited for the first time in his life when it all goes out the window, and he's right back where he started. WIll his friends help him with this new challenge. Will they be able help?
1. Chapter 1

Tim wasn't someone who spoke a lot. He tended to keep to quiet, choosing instead to let Jason do the speaking for him. He knew Tim, he understood Tim, which was why the way Tim was acting now was so surprising, even for Tim. No one, not even Jason has heard a word out of him, for going on two weeks. He played ball still; in fact he'd had played the games of his life the last two Friday nights. Tim _showed_ up for school (somber), _did_ his homework, and didn't say a word. At first Jason just thought it was Billy getting on case again, or that he'd heard from his dad or something, but after Coach had pulled him into his office to ask what was going on with Tim, Jason knew something more was up. He'd looked his coach in his eye and told the truth, "I have no idea sir", which hurt like hell, because really wasn't he supposed to know this shit?

Jason showed up at Tim's house the next morning at 7:30 like he did every day of the school week, except Tim wasn't sitting on the stoop waiting like he usually was. Jason waited another five minutes before putting his jeep into park and turning the key to off. He jumped out of his jeep just as Billy came out the door.

"You know if he's up?" Street asked Tim's brother and caretaker.

"Nope, haven't seen him in a couple of days, check the local bar, I'm sure he's there." Billy said smirking as he climbed into his truck and took off.

Jason sat on the stoop of Tim's house for a good ten minutes trying to figure out where the hell his friend was, when he was out of options he sighed to himself and headed toward school. He wanted to get a workout in before his 2nd period class. He showed up at the locker room and changed before headed out to the back practice field that no one used, ready to run a couple of wind sprints, when he stopped in his tracks. There was Tim Riggins running sprints like his life depended on it. Jason stood watching him for a moment before heading over to where Tim's T-shirt and water bottle was laying in the grass. He watched Tim for a moment more before the other guy came over and took a sip of water.

"Six" Tim said by way of greeting.

"How long you've been here?" Jason asked.

"I don't know an hour or so?" Tim said wiping his chest with his T-shirt and taking a sip of his Gatorade.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

"Doing good," Tim said simply.

Jason sighed to himself; Tim wasn't going to give up anything. "You want a workout partner?" he asked.

"I'm doing 10, 20, 30's," Tim said by way of an answer.

"Let's get going." Jason said pulling his shirt off and joining Tim on the faded goal line.

They ran hard for the next hour, finishing the suicides, doing a couple of ladders, then finishing up with sit-ups and push-ups before heading in to shower and change for their 2nd period class. 1st period was always study hall for them.

The next two weeks went on much like the last two weeks, except now Jason was joining Tim in the morning for his workouts, and the two of them were virtually unstoppable in the 3 games they'd played since Jason began working out with Tim. After their game against Arnet Mead, where Jason threw for 4 touchdowns and Tim ran for 120 yards, the two best friends headed out to the lake to hang out and have a few beers. Lyla was with her family and Tim and Tyra had broken up again, so it was just the two best friends.

They'd been sitting out there for a good hour, when Tim pulled out a crumpled up letter from the chest pocket of his lamb skin coat and handed it to Jason, once again saying nothing as he did it.

Jason looked at him for a moment before opening the crumpled piece of letter. He noticed the Texas Longhorns logo on the top left-hand corner of the paper before reading the piece of paper.

Dear Timothy Riggins,

I was at your game against Larribee the other night, looking at Jason Street and I have to say, I was most impressed with your play. I've checked into your history and it seems you're quite a football player, but not quite a student. I'm writing this letter to let you know that Texas Football is interested in exploring options for you playing here in two years, however that's only if you clean up your act off the field. Stay in shape, keep up the great work in games, and get those grades up and I'll be looking for you in Austin.

Sincerely

Mack Brown

UT at Austin Head Coach

Jason read it two or three times before looking Tim, who was looking as his best friend wondering if he could do it. Jason shrugged and head up his fist, "Texas forever" he said simply. It was his way of telling Tim; he'd be there to get him to Austin.

"Texas forever," Tim said quietly. He knew Jason had his back, really he was the only one, well maybe coach, and Mrs. Coach, but that was it. He was on his own.

A few weeks later, Tim thought his head was going to explode. He'd studied for that test for hours and he still had gotten a D. He just wasn't any good at reading and then understanding it too? How was he supposed to do it? He thought to himself as he slammed his locker; the memory of Mach Brown's letter burning in his mind.

"Tim?" Tami Taylor said out of concern. "Everything all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just… I just don't get it." Tim finally said in defeat.

"Don't get what?" Tami asked standing in the empty hallway with Tim.

"This!" Tim said holding up his English test. "I studied for this for hours!" Tim exclaimed.

Tami took the test from the boy's hand and looked at all the red on it and sighed to herself. "Come on honey, I have some cookies with your name on it, in my office." Tami said knowing the way to this boy's heart and mind, was through his stomach.

"I have class," Tim said standing there dejected. He held up the bathroom pass, "I'm on pass."

"Don't worry I'll call down and let him know you're with me." Tami said leading Tim to her office. While he got situated Tami called his teacher and let him know Tim would be with her for the reminder of the period.

"So, you studied a lot for this test?" Tami said sitting down on her chair as Tim sat and stuffed cookies in his mouth.

"Ask 6, he saw me." Tim said quietly.

"I believe you." Tami said. "So what's the problem?" She asked.

"I suck at reading! I can't understand that shit!' Tim exclaimed which earned him a stare, "Sorry, I don't understand what's going on. By the time I get to the bottom of a page I forget what's happened at the beginning." Tim said frustrated. "I should just give up." Tim said quietly. "this is never going to work!"

"Oh don't go all drama queen on me now!" Tami said smiling. "Tim I've heard nothing but good things about you lately. I don't know what's changed, I don't really care but I do care about you quitting now that you're doing so well. I'll do whatever I can to help you." Tami said honestly to the boy sitting in front of her. His jeans were ripped in all the right places, his plaid shirt just the right fit to show of his shoulder, his hair, long hanging in his face, but as he looked up at her through his hair, Tami saw a boy who finally actually cared about what was happening to him. "How about I get someone to help?" she said.

"A tutor?" Tim asked scrunching up his face, not liking the idea. "I'm not wasting my time with some snot nosed smart freshman, who's only going to laugh at me." He said with venom in his voice.

Tami smirked, an idea popping into her head, "How about a clean, sophomore, who won't laugh at you." Tami asked getting a small chuckle out of him, "They're quiet and passionate about reading." Tami said trying to convince him. He still didn't look all that convinced. "I promise no snot." Tami said hoping that she wasn't convincing Tim only to find out Julie refused to help him.

"Who?" Tim asked sounding like he was a little more willing.

"Let me talk to the person, make sure they have time. I'll catch up with you before practice." Tami said standing as the bell rang.

Tim harrumphed, "Fine." He said standing ready to get away from Mrs. Taylor for now. "Thanks Mrs. Coach." He said using his usual name for her.

Tami laughed, "No problem honey, you just keep up the good work." Tami said walking him out of her office. Just as she was going to say a final good-bye Jason Street came running bye grabbing Tim's arm.

"Come on, coach got us Mickey D's." He said smiling before looking at Tami. "You too Mrs. Coach, he sent me to go get you too." Jason said smiling. Tami could only chuckle as she locked her door laughing at Tim and Jason as they jostled each other in the hall on the way to the gym and the player's meeting room, where there was in fact a massive amount of food waiting for them.

Tim nodded his thanks to "Mrs. Coach" and headed toward the food and his friends, and Tami headed toward her husband after grabbing her food.

"What's the occasion?" she asked sitting down next to her husband, giving him a peck on the cheek.

Eric Taylor rolled his eyes, "Buddy Garrity, he thought the boys would enjoy a little surprise." Eric said sardonically as he took a bite of his Big Mac.

"Well that's mighty nice of him." Tami said sweetly.

Tami looked all over for her daughter for the rest of the afternoon and couldn't find her anywhere, she kept missing her in the halls between classes, and Tami knew that she would be killed if she pulled Julie out of a class, so she stood by Julie's final period classroom, AP English Lit, her favorite, waiting for Julie to come out.

"Hello there sweetie." Tami said brightly following Julie toward her locker.

Julie smiled at her mother as she opened her locker, "What do you want mom?" Julie asked as she put away the books she didn't need for the night and grabbed the stuff that she did.

Tami tried to look insulted; it didn't work very well, "Now how nice is that? A mother just trying to say hi to her daughter and she thinks, I want something." Tami said smiling sweetly.

"You do want something mom, I can tell. What is it?" Julie said slamming her locker and turning to look at her mother sweetly.

"Well I remembered you mentioning wanting to get into tutoring someone after school, I have someone for you." Tami said as they walked toward the football fields, where Julie always sat and did her homework while waiting for her father.

"Who," Julie asking climbing the bleachers.

"Well now, he's a junior, who's really making an effort, everyone can see something has changed. He just needs some extra help." Tami said building her daughter up.

"Who mom," Julie asked not taking any of the B.S. her mom was spilling.

"Tim Riggings." Tami said bluntly not wanting to beet around the bush.

Julie whipped her head around to stare at her mother, "are you absolutely crazy? Tim Riggins? He does nothing but drink and have sex! I'm not tutoring him!" Julie exclaimed.

"Now come on! He's changed this last month I promise!" Tami said.

"He has not, that boy doesn't care what happens to him in school, just as long as he can play." Julie said with venom but more quietly when she noticed her father staring up at her with question when he heard her scream.

"Julie please, I know how you feel about football players, I do, but I really need your help on this, he's trying, he really is, but he needs our help." Tami said quietly appealing to Julie's sensitive side. "He's got no one, Jules no one." Tami said quietly. She sat then, not saying anything knowing that Julie needed to make this decision for herself.

Julie had a right not to like football players, she'd been burned by them too many times in her young life, by the players themselves and by the coach, her father who'd left her in a time of need one too many times for a "football thing". Tami knew she had a right, but she also hoped that Julie realized this was a chance to help some one achieve a dream, that was otherwise unachievable.

After watching her father beat down his players for fifteen minutes, watching Tim Riggins run his heart out during the suicides her father was having them run, Julie sighed. She'd sworn never to get involved with football again after dating Mathew Blake, the star running back for her father's team at her old school. They'd dated for 5 months before she found out he was cheating on her, that he was only dating her to get on her fathers good side. It had backfired in his face with playing time, but she didn't care about that, what she cared about was being burned once again by football. But the truth was she'd always liked Tim Riggins, he was always nice to her, treating her with respect; but the fact was he was a football player and that scared the hell out of her.

"Riggins! Move! Move those legs Riggins!" Julie heard her dad yell as she watched Tim jump through some ladder thing looking like he was going to puke.

Julie sighed, "Fine, I'll help him. Tell him to come by the house at 6." Julie said standing and heading for the car. She'd decided her mom could wait for her father today, if she was going to help Tim Riggins, she needed to get home and do her homework.

Tim Riggins sat outside coach's house at 5:55 scared to death. He'd come to Mrs. Coach for help and she said she'd get it for him; he didn't however think it'd be in the form of Julie Taylor. The girl, quiet and reserved scared the crap out of him, not something Tim easily admitted, but nonetheless, she did. Her steadfast hate of all things football, her love of school and her obvious ability to do well at it, they all scared him. He didn't want to go in there and have her find out that he was 17 years old and he was stupid as could be. Heaving a big sigh he climbed out of his truck and went up to start his tutoring.

Julie had been tutoring Tim for a week now and was impressed with what she'd seen so far. Tim was honestly trying. He was always on time for their sessions, and except for the occasional sexual dig, he behaved himself. She could see where he was having trouble though. He wasn't the strongest reader and by the time he'd finish reading a section, he hadn't picked up on the meaning of what he'd read because of how hard he'd been concentrating on getting the words right. Julie had been working on his reading skills with and taught him a few tricks to keep him on track with what was going on in the story.

As the fall went on, things were continuing to go well for Tim. His classes were going well, including English. The help Julie Taylor was giving him was just the what he needed. It was helping in all his classes not just his English class. And once he was struggling less with the reading, he found he actually enjoyed what he was reading, although he'd never admit it, he still had some reputation he cared about. But lately he hadn't been living up to it. He was so tired all the time. Between school and football, by the time he finished with his work at night, he'd fall into bed exhausted. Saturday and Sundays were spent sleeping in he wasn't practicing or hanging out with Street and Lyla. Julie had started hanging out with them some as well. Tyra was back into their little group as well. Despite their history, they'd always had fun together, and Tim could say he was honestly very happy for Tyra, who was obviously over the moon about Landry Clark, although for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how that happened.

Julie kept telling him he should "go to the doctor and figure out why he felt like shit" and he kept telling her to "shut the fuck up about it. He was fine, he just had a lot going on at that moment if she didn't fucking notice." They talked to each other that way; it was how they interacted. Not taking shit at all. They gave just as much as they got, which included glares from the librarian when their swearing got a little to loud. When that happened they moved their tutoring session to the bleachers of they'd head back to the Taylor's. Tim enjoyed this because it meant Mrs. Coach usually invited him to stay for dinner, and she could cook a hell of a lot better than Billy, who was all of a sudden taking his job a lot more seriously lately and consequently never home.

Three months later Julie was still helping Tim three times a week. They'd meet in the library after school before practice. It was the end of November and they were headed to the playoffs, thanks in no small part to Tim Riggins. He was the talk of the town, up there with Jason Street and Brian "Smash" Williams. He was relieved on some level though as much of the hype was being piled on those two, who despite the nuisance it caused, welcomed it whole heartedly. Tim did not want that shit he just wanted to play. He was just interested in getting into college, he was interested in preserving Texas' interest in him, and so far he'd done that.

The week of Thanksgiving they had a by week, so no game, which was good because Tim still wasn't feeling well the last couple of weeks and needed a break. It took all he had to get through the day and practice, never mind the games he'd been playing. There was no more partying and girls, he had no energy for it lately. It was Tuesday afternoon and he was walking toward the library to meet with Julie. He had a big paper in his English class and she was going to go over his rough draft he'd written that weekend with him. He just needed to get to the table and sit down he told himself as he walked toward the library. The doors felt like a million pounds as he pulled them open. It was empty given the fact school had let out for the holiday week; no one but Julie and the librarian were there. Tim tried to keep his eyes focused on Julie and the table just five feet ahead of him, but things were blurry and before he knew it, everything went dark.

Waking up two hours later with beeping and buzzing laying in a hospital bed scared the daylights out of him. He was in a hospital gown and hooked up to all sorts of monitors. He could see Coach and Mrs. Coach standing outside the room with Billy talking to a doctor. They looked worried. Coach looked like he'd seen a ghost. He wanted to stay awake to find out what was wrong but his eyes just wouldn't stay open for him. He woke up a while later and they were all sitting around his bed. He'd been moved to another room he observed. This time Street and Julie were with coach and Mrs. Taylor and Billy.

Billy, Tim didn't remember the last time he looked like that. He looked completely wrecked. Like someone had taken the wind right out of him.

Tim groaned a little before opening his eyes again it was too damn bright, especially with the headache he had.

"Hey there son," Coach said leaning over his bed.

"What the fuck happened?" Tim asked with a dry throat.

"You hit the deck buddy." Jason said. "I told you not to faint in school it's really bad for the reputation." He said smiling although Tim noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes, as he handed Tim a cup of water, who drank the water in one sip.

"What? When?" Tim asked.

"When you were meeting me in the library. You nearly gave Mrs. Smith a heart attack. If you didn't want to go over your paper today, you could have just told me." Julie said her lip quivering trying to make light of the situation in spite of what Billy Riggins had just told her was wrong with Tim.

"Oh man I'm sorry." Tim said sitting up. "Well when can I leave?" Tim asked.

"Tomorrow morning. They want to monitor you over night." Coach said quietly.

"Man, I skipped breakfast this morning, guess I shouldn't do that anymore huh?" Tim said looking up at everyone. They did not laugh or smile. "What, it was just one day it's not a big deal." Tim said seriously.

"Tim, lay down, there's something we have to discuss." Billy said quietly. He'd been worried about telling Tim, but when the coach had offered, and he'd been willing to let him, he realized this was something he had to do himself.

"What? What's wrong?" Tim asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He'd felt like shit the month or so and he had a feeling that it had something to do with that.

"When they brought you in this afternoon. They did a few tests, just to make sure everything was all right. They found something?" Billy said quietly.

"What? What did they find?" Tim said jutting his jaw out to keep from getting emotional.

"You have leukemia Tim," Billy said his voice cracking.

"What? That's impossible! I just lost my balance! I'm fine, I'll eat more." Tim said desperately.

"Tim, it's going to be fine. We'll help you through this." Eric said.

"No! I'm fine, it's just a flu; I'll be fine!" Tim said getting upset.

Billy looked at Eric and Tami Taylor at a loss for what to do with his brother. This was not in the cards, take care of his brother, feed him, bring him to school, make sure he doesn't die, those were the things that he was supposed to be doing, not helping his brother fight cancer.

"Riggins," Jason started to say quietly.

"NO!" Tim yelled jumping up from his bed and running of the room and away from all of this. He could hear his coach yelling after him, but he didn't care. He could feel the blood pouring from his hand, from where the IV had ripped out, but he didn't care. He had to get away, away from this nightmare that was becoming his life. After he'd worked so hard!

Soon enough he was outside in the garden set up by the local women's club in Dillion. He was freezing, even though it was warm, but he realized not for he first time, he'd lost a lost of weight and was a lot weaker than he used to be. But he couldn't go back in; it just wasn't possible! He couldn't go back in yet.

Soon enough Julie Taylor came out and sat down next to him, holding what appeared to be a Dillion Panther sweatshirt. She didn't say anything to him for a long time, merely offering him the sweatshirt, which he wordlessly took after ten minutes of shivering.

Finally, after almost and hour Julie chuckled to herself before looking at Tim, who looked at her curiously, "Well this fucking blows" she said bluntly and he finally lost it. He didn't cry out loud, no tears or sobs, but from his shaking shoulders Julie could tell that this guy who'd worked so hard the past 4 months, was feeling like he was right back where'd started, going nowhere fast. Another twenty minutes past before Julie convinced him to go inside, at least so he wouldn't loose his feet to frost bite.

Billy, Coach and Mrs. Coach weren't there when he got back to his room on the pediatric floor.

Just Jason, who was sitting on the love seat next to Tim's empty bed looked up, "They left, they'll be back in the morning to meet with your doctor," Jason said quietly. He looked at Tim, who stood at the door to the room, looking like he might run again. "Will you at least sit down again, you're to big for me to lift if you keel over again." Jason said smiling.

Tim entered the room and sat on the bed again, exhaustion hitting him all at once. They all sat quietly absorbing the news, before long a nurse came bustling in wearing Winnie the Pooh scrubs.

"Well hello there." She said smiling as she went about reinserting Tim's IV. "I'm your nurse, my name is Shelly. If you need anything, the buzzer is right there." She said with sunshine in her voice as she went about checking his pulse and temperature, and writing them in a chart and the end of his bed before looking at Jason and Julie, "I'm sorry but it's time for Timmy's friends to leave. You can come back tomorrow. He needs to get his rest." She said smiling brightly, like he hadn't just been told he had cancer.

"What the fuck? My name is Tim, no one fucking calls me Timmy! I'm not 5. And they can stay as long as they fucking please." Tim said with venom in his voice. He didn't know who the fuck this women was smiling at him like a grandma, but he wanted her to leave now!

"Well that's no way for a young man to speak!" Shelly said looking aghast.

"I don't' know who the fuck you are, but get out." Tim said glaring at the women who looked shocked by Tim's language.

"That's not a Christian way of speaking young man." She said.

"Good thing I'm not a fucking Christian then. Get out" He said again yelling at the women in front of him. Julie and Jason understanding he needed to vent somehow just sat quietly. Just as Tim began to yell at Shelly again the head nurse, a guy who looked to be Billy's age came running.

"What is going on here?" he asked looking at Shelly.

"Timmy here is acting very unkind." Shelly said quietly.

"Don't fucking call me Timmy. I told you to get the fuck out of my room, and I meant it!" Tim said grabbing his water canister and throwing it at the women, who looked completely shocked.

"Timmy, that's no way treat a lady. Much less someone who's trying to help you. I'm here to help you through this hard time!" Shelly said with a sweet voice.

Jason really wished this women would get a hint and get the hell out of Tim's room before did something really unchristian.

"Look Lady, I don't know who the fuck you are, but if you call me Timmy one more fucking time…" Tim said with venom in his voice.

"Okay, that's enough, Shelly, go round on your patients. I'll take Tim tonight." The guy said. The women nearly shook her head and scurried off to see her other patients as the male nurse came in further to check on Tim's IV, which he'd ripped out again, throwing the water canister at the nurse.

"I'm Jeff by the way. Can I suggest you refrain from doing anything that rips this thing out again? We're going to run out of veins to put it in." Jeff said expertly putting the IV back in. Tim just laid back on his pillow back fuming. "So you're Tim Riggins" Jeff said writing some notes in Tim's file

"What the fuck do you care?" Tim asked.

"I don't, I just was told you'd be on my floor for the next couple of days." Jess said calmly, trying to keep Tim calm as well. He looked at Julie and Jason, "I'm sorry to do this guys, but I got to kick you out, hospital rules." He said quietly.

"We can't stay a little longer?" Julie asked quietly.

"Naw, not tonight. I just gave him some pretty potent sleep stuff as well; he'll be sleeping like a passed out drunk in no time anyway. Say good-bye Tim" Jeff said before leaving his room.

Julie saw that Jason needed a minute alone with his best friend, "I'll wait outside." She said standing up. "I'll be back in the morning okay? I'll bring us some coffee and donuts," Julie said smiling at Tim as brightly as she could.

"By coach Jules," Tim said quietly using her nickname he'd called her.

"By 33" Julie said before walking out the door. She stood a little ways down the hall and slid to the floor crying silently as Jason stood to talk to his buddy.

Jason stood for a long time looking at his best friend. Now that he really looked at Tim, he could see the paleness of his skin, and how skinny looked, but most of all he saw the exhaustion on his face.

He stood and looked at Tim and finally held up his fist toward Tim's "Texas _forever_" Jason said emphasizing forever, like he wasn't going to let Tim get away with not getting through this.

"Texas forever," Tim said, he voice raw. Jason stood for a minute more and then left, stopping at Julie before continuing on to his car, giving Julie a ride home.

Tim eventually fell asleep thanks to the sleep aid Jeff had given him, but for Coach and Tami, Billy, Jason and Julie it was a sleepless night. Billy went home and cleaned the entire house, calling Jackie over to help since he didn't know the first thing about cleaning a house. He then went over his finances that night, staying up late trying to figure out how he was going to do this, and not for the first time he was happy he'd had that savings account. He'd been putting money away for as long as he could remember saving up to go pro one day. Even after he'd taken over Tim, he'd been doing it, so now he at least didn't have to really worry about finances, not yet at least.

Coach laid awake all night worried about Tim. The boy who'd finally gotten his life on track, he was going places, and now it looked like it was all up in the air. Tami was worried about Tim, she was worried about Billy and Jason and Julie. She was worried about that boy laying in that hospital room, worrying that his future was over.

The next morning Coach and Tami met Billy at the hospital to meet with Tim's doctor and the oncologist that had come one board. Billy had asked them the night before as they left the hospital if they'd be willing to be there, to ask questions, as he was worried he'd miss something. Tami and Eric could tell Billy was worried something _he_ did could mess up the situation more.

Tim lay in his hospital bed absolutely silent, staring away from the doctor, as DR. Stevens, who was explaining to him, Billy, coach and Mrs. Taylor what kind of cancer he had, how bad it was and how they were going to fix it.

He'd start a 6-week round of chemo three days a week starting the next day. He'd be fitted for a shunt, and then his first round of chemo. He'd get sick from it; he'd loose his hair. It'd pretty much wreck him, but they were hoping with aggressive treatment, he'd be in remission within 6 months. Tim didn't hear a word of what they were saying, he just knew he wouldn't be playing football anymore that season and wouldn't be playing ever again. The only thing he said during the whole two-hour meeting was that no one and he did mean _no one_ was to know about this. Billy looked like he wanted to object to that but he didn't, he was at a loss for how to help his brother so he was willing to do whatever it took.

After the meeting, Tami and Coach left, both needing to head into school, as they both had meetings to attend. The student's had the day off, but teachers and staff had meeting all day. Their first stop when they got to school was the principle's office, to explain what was going on, and to ensure the principle knew how private Tim wanted this kept. Mr. Strice promised no one would know until Tim told people, which despite his reluctance, was going to have to be sooner than later. People would want to know why he wasn't playing for the rest of the season. The team would want to know. Eric sat in his office for a good two hours staring at the latest picture on his wall. One of Tim Riggins, Jason Street, Lyla Garrity and Julie sitting in the stands after practice one day laughing, without a care in the world. Tim had his arm around Julie, in friendly manner while Lyla was sitting in between Jason's legs. The four of them had grown close in the past months, with Julie tutoring Tim, and Tyra dating Landry, they all hung out often these days. Eric knew Tim would need these people in the coming months, more than he even knew.

Billy had called in and explained the situation to his boss, who was very supportive, saying the let him know if Billy needed anything, which was surprised Billy. Soon enough Billy took Tim home; there was no reason why he needed to be in the hospital so Dr. Stevens had released him, with strict orders to rest.

Jason showed up to the Riggins house around 5 with the crew.  
"He Billy" he said when Billy opened the door.

"Hey Street what's up?" Billy asked quietly.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Tim for the night." Jason said quietly.

Billy looked up alarmed, "I don't think now is the time to go party Jason" Billy said.

"No, no it's not like that. It's just the gang. We're going to go out to the lake. He needs to tell them Billy. They need to hear it from him." Jason said of Tim telling Lyla, Landry and Tyra. He felt Tim needed to tell Tyra himself especially given their history.

"He hasn't left his room all day. If you can get him to get up." Billy said letting Jason in. "Just make sure you're back early, or he at least gets some rest tonight. He's going to get fitted for his shunt tomorrow." Billy said quietly.

"Will do I'll have him back here by 8am." Jason said walking into Tim's room without knocking. He was lying on his bed staring at the sealing.

"Come on." Jason said grabbing Tim's football bag and shoving random pieces of warm clothes in it.

"Go away." Tim said.

"You'd like that right now I know, but when did I ever listen to you. Get up." Jason said standing by Tim's bed, kicking the side by Tim's head.

"Street" Tim said with gritted teeth.

"I'm not above more drastic measures if you don't get your ass in my truck now." Jason said with steel in his own voice. Tim thought about making Jason try, but then decided against it before rising and leaving with Jason, telling Billy he'd be back. Everyone was already in Jason's truck; they were just waiting on Tim. Everything was in the back ready for the night out by the lake, like they'd done so many times before. Tim was silent on the hour ride out to their spot. He was silent as they set up camp; he was silent as they sat around the campfire talking. Lyla and Jason cuddled together, as was Landry and Tyra. Julie sat next to Tim, quiet for the most part, but answering questions and putting her two sense in every one in a while when she had something to contribute.

It was getting late, they'd been out there for hours, just shooting the shit laughing about life when Tim looked up and looked at his best friends, "I have cancer." He said bluntly. Landry, Tyra and Lyla immediately shut up and looked at him shocked.

"What?" Tyra asked.

"I have cancer," Tim said enunciating each word.

"When did you find out?" Lyla asked from Jason's arms. She'd known something was wrong when Jason climbed through her window last night and crawled into her bed, needing to be near her but he said what was wrong.

"Yesterday." Tim said looking up to Landry, who was a new part of their small group, but an important part.

"How?" Tyra asked quietly.

"I fainted actually. I have been feeling like shit these last few weeks. I was on the way to my tutoring with Coach Taylor and I felt like shit. I remembering just praying I could get to get to the table and sit down as I walked toward the library. Apparently I didn't quite make it. " Tim said using his nickname for Julie that they all knew he called her.

"How bad, I mean, what's going to happen?" Lyla asked.

"I have no fucking clue!" Tim said flinging the bottle of root beer at the fire, the glass shattering. "I just know that my life is over." He said standing from his chair, and stocking off toward the lake, leaving his chair flipped over and his friends in shock.

"It's stage 3, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He starts chemo tomorrow. He's going to get a shunt tomorrow then he'll have a half round too. It's high does chemo. He'll feel like shit. The seasons over for him." Julie said having quizzed her parents from their meeting that morning. "If you'll excuse me" Julie said going after Tim.

She and Tim had had something growing the last couple of weeks. It was slow to form and they were taking their time, not wanting to screw anything up. Julie didn't want to loose that growth now with this development, however Tim had a lot going on now, she didn't want to be a burden either. She saw him sitting out on the dock by the water, his silhouette lit up by the moon. His shoulders were bent over and shaking. Julie walked up quietly, not saying a word as she sat next to Tim as he continued to cry silent tears. She took his big muscular hand in hers, and held on for dear life. Eventually she unwrapped her hands and looked at his hand in hers. It was beet up from football and working on his truck. There were scars all over, little ones. Julie sat holding his hand in hers for along time, not pressuring him to talk.

"I don't want to die." He said finally just above a whisper. He wouldn't say that to anyone else, but that was part of the reason why he liked Julie Taylor so much. He could talk to her. He could yell and scream and she'd sit there and listen. She'd let him be who he was. She gave as good as she got when it came to him giving her shit, but she saw something in him, he had no fucking clue what, but he was willing to take whatever he could get when it came to Julie Taylor. He just hoped it was as much as he wanted.

"That's good considering you're not going to," Julie said looking over at him.

"You don't know that." Tim said.

"I do, I know that you've just started living your life Tim Riggins and you have too much living left to do." Julie said quietly.

They were silent again, the faint strains of their friend's voices coming over in the wind.

"I love you" Tim said quietly. They were officially dating, they hadn't even gone on a real date, but from the second week she'd been tutoring him, he'd been in love with her and he wanted her to know that. "You don't have to say anything, but I just thought I'd tell you."

"I love you too." Julie said quietly looking up at his face. She gently brought a hand to his cheeks, pulling so he'd turn and look at _her_. "You're so beautiful" Julie said quietly kissing him gently on his lips, just a whisper of a kiss really.

"Will you come with me tomorrow?" Tim asked.

"I'll be right beside you. I'm not going anywhere." Julie said.

They sat for a while longer before rejoining the group. Tyra and Lyla hugged him tightly, especially Tyra and Landry looked at him and smiled.

"Don't think this is going to get me to do your homework for you." He said breaking the ice. They all laughed at that and things were a little more relaxed after that. Tim and Julie were that last ones awake before falling asleep under a bunch of blankets on a mattress in the back of Jason's truck.

They all woke early and cleaned up before heading back to Dillion. Tim called Billy from the road and told him to just meet at the hospital.

He'd go under for procedure to put the shunt in then they'd give him a half dose of chemo. They were given a private room to wait in, Billy, Eric and Tami and the gang. He would be brought back there and later on, he'd be given his chemo there as well.

Within and hour of him getting his chemo, he was throwing up, violently sick. When he knew he was going to be sick, he made everyone leave, not wanting to be sick in front of them. Billy and Julie stayed. Julie stayed in the corner, letting Tim's brother do most of the work. When it was apparent that Tim was mortified, Julie went over whispered I love you and left, giving him his privacy. She sat outside his room for three hours listening to Tim throw up everything in his stomach, by the end there wasn't anything in there, so it was merely dry heaves. Tami had to go and pick up Gracie Bell, and Tyra had to go to work. So Tami drove Tyra. Landry also needed to get to work and Lyla needed to get to the church, so the left as well. Jason sat with Julie outside Tim's room, refusing to leave. At one point Eric stood up getting ready to leave.

"Come on sweetie, I'll give you a ride home before I head in" Eric said of heading to the office.

"I'm not leaving him daddy." Julie said looking up at her father with conviction.

"Sweetie there's nothing you can do right now. I'll bring you back later when he's feeling better." Eric said quietly.

"I'm not leaving him." Julie said again.

"Street?" Eric said to his star quarterback.

"Sorry coach." Jason said remaining next to Julie.

Eric knew this was coming, he could see how Julie and Tim felt about each other, and he was okay with it, really, especially with how Tim had turned himself around this fall, but it still concerned him, a lot. Eric sighed and looked down at his daughter. "I'll come get you later, for dinner. You or Tim need anything, you call me okay?" Eric said in his southern drawl.

"Okay Daddy," Julie said looking like she was ten, not 16.

Julie sat quietly with Jason Street next to her waiting for the guy that she'd fallen in love with to stop puking his guts out because he had _cancer_. 'What happened?' Julie asked herself. 'How did it come to this?' She wondered sitting on the floor outside Tim's room. Two hours later Billy came out looking absolutely wrecked, he turned to look at Julie and Jason and bit his tongue before looking at them again after looking away so he could keep himself together.

"He said you could go in now," Billy said quietly walking down the hall to give himself some air.

Julie sat stock still, not able to move, she barely registered Jason Street squatting in front of her.

"He needs us Julie," he said quietly before standing and walking into Tim's room. Julie stood, took a moment and walked in as well.

Tim was lying on his bed, looked absolutely wrecked. The room smelled of throw-up and the air was warm and stagnant.

"I'm finished. The nurse said I could leave when I'm ready, get me the fuck out of here." Tim said quietly. Jason hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should really listen to his friend but thought better than that. He quickly helped Tim out of bed, Julie grabbing the Panthers sweatshirt for Jason to put on Tim, then the three of them quietly walked out, Tim leaning heavily on Tim and Julie.

They were seated in Jason's truck, Julie squashed in between Jason and Tim, instead of in the backseat, because Tim wouldn't let her go.

"Where to?" Jason asked.

"The field." Tim said quietly.

Jason looked at his friend alarmed, "Are you sure?" asked.

"Take me to the field, please." Tim said quietly.

Jason sighed and put his truck in gear heading toward the high school and the Panthers Football field. The got there just as Eric was finishing up for the day, intending on heading toward the hospital. He walked over to the passenger side window.

"Riggins," Eric said by way of greeting.

"Coach" Tim said looking at his coach.

"I called Billy, be at the house for dinner by 6. He'll meet you there." Eric said.

"Coach." Tim said as recognition. Eric went to his car and headed home and Jason and Julie helped Tim to the fifty yard line where he laid down and looked up at the sky. Twenty minutes later Tyra, Lyla and Landry showed up, obviously Jason had called them. Tim didn't know how they'd all gotten away from what they were supposed to be doing but he was glad that they were there.

He was feeling better, a little weak, but better so he'd had Jason grab his football from the truck and they'd all thrown the ball around, joking about like Tim didn't have something in him that very well could kill him. No one tackled, Tim couldn't risk it with the shunt, but they all laughed and ran about like the teenagers they were. Eric, having forgot his playbook in his office sat in his car and watched as Jason threw the ball and Tim ran to catch it in the end-zone, throwing his hands up in victory. He didn't know how it would all end, but he hoped to whatever god there was that Tim Riggins would get through this and go on to live the life he was supposed to, because he deserved it.

They left the field at 5:30, Jason dropping Julie and Tim at Taylor's. Tim wasn't very hungry, but he had the soup that Tami fixed him and then crashed on the couch while Billy finished his dinner. Tami and Eric had invited Billy and Tim over for Thanksgiving weeks previous, so after waking Tim and helping him to his truck, Billy asked if there was anything he could bring, getting a reply of just yourselves, before heading home with a sleeping Tim in his Truck.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair. Tim was feeling better then, tired still but he hadn't been nauseous so he was able to enjoy Tami Taylor's cooking. Billy bought a pie despite Tami saying it wasn't needed; he didn't feel right going over to the Taylor's empty handed. They ate around 2, then the guys sat on the couch watching football and Julie and her mom hung out in the kitchen. Jason, Lyla, Landry and Tyra came over around 6 and they all had pie together. Tim even ate some, which Julie was relieved to see, because although he'd eaten Thanksgiving dinner, he hadn't eaten a lot, a rare thing for Tim Riggins.

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent relaxing and preparing to go back to school, the normal weekend stuff, although everyone's minds were Tim and what he was going through. Julie and Jason couldn't go with Tim on Monday morning for his next chemo appointment, they had school, but they'd be there right after school, at least Julie would be, Jason had football practice. It took all Billy had to get Tim in the car on Monday morning. He knew what it had been like the last time, and that was only a half-dose this would be worse. They showed up at 7am when they were scheduled, and once again given a private room on the pediatric oncology floor. Tim, all 6'3" 250 lbs of him, felt ridiculous in the room painted with bright colors and balloons, but he was only 17, so he was technically a pediatric case. They hooked him up to the machine and he lay down waiting for the vomiting to begin. There was a little reprieve this time, his body waited 3 hours to revolt instead of 30 minutes, but once it started, it was just as bad if not worse than the last time.

Julie was walking out of school ready to go to the hospital when her cell phone rang, it was Billy. Tim was too sick right then to have any visitors. After sighing deeply, she told Billy to tell Tim to call her if he needed her then hung up. She headed out to football field to watch practice instead.

Jason, on a moment break ran over to Julie when he saw her in the stands.

"I thought you were going to see Riggs after school" He said taking a sip from his Gatorade bottle.

"He's too sick. Billy called and told me not to come." Julie said with her lip quivering.

Jason looked devastated, then steeled himself and jumped over the fence and grabbed her hand!" Julie said as he dragged her over to her father.

Eric saw Julie standing next to him with Jason and glanced at her before looking ahead toward his team on the field. They had huge whole to fill with Tim out and he had no idea how they were going to do it. "Julie?" he said by way of greeting. "I thought you were heading over to see Tim." He said quietly.

"He's too sick, Billy called," She said her voice wavering.

"Give her a job coach, she needs something to do." Jason said seriously, knowing just how Julie felt, he once again thanked god he had football.

Coach sighed and looked at his daughter, "Go over to Mac and tell him that you want to help, he'll tell you how to call out drills." Eric said as Jason dragged over Julie to Mac.

Dr. Stevens came by to see Tim in the afternoon, after his chemo was done and took one look at him and declared he was staying overnight.

"I want to go home!" Tim said quietly and with a weak voice.

"I know you do, but right now you're too sick. Stay overnight and we'll see how you feel in the morning." Dr. Stevens.

"Only if I play." Tim said sitting up.

"Excuse me?" Dr. Stevens said.

"I'll only stay if I can play football." Tim said stubbornly.

Dr. Stevens looked at Tim's brother, "Is he serious?" she asked before looking back at Tim. "You do realize that you have a very serious illness right? That you could die? That you just spent the better part of the last 8 hours throwing up because you're getting Chemo?" she asked.

"Yes, and I feel like shit, and I won't be able to play like regular, but it's what's going to make this shit bearable. As for dying; if I do, it's not going to be without having played as much as possible," Tim said staring at his doctor through his hair, which was hanging in eyes, once again.

"Tim, really I don't know if I can allow you to do this." Dr. Stevens said.

"I'm going to play anyway, with or without your consent. Would you like to be part of the decision making or not?" Tim asked with a steely voice. 'Really for a guy who barely talked for the better part of his life, he sure was voicing his opinion a lot lately,' Billy thought as he watched his brother with his doctor. Billy certainly had his own opinion about Tim playing and he could only imagine what coach was going to say, but in the end he agreed with Tim, football was the thing that was going to keep sane through all this.

"I don't know Tim, you're offal weak and with your shunt…" Dr. Stevens said with questions.

"I'm telling you that football is what I live for, it's all I've ever done that has mattered to me. I'll do whatever you want, but please find a way for me to play, including this Friday night." Tim said.

He'd thought about it all weekend. About missing the end of this season, they had a real chance of winning state, and he wasn't going to miss it, he wasn't going to sit on the sidelines and watch all that he had worked for go down the drain; it just wasn't going to happen.

Dr. Stevens sighed, "stay overnight tonight, we'll see how you are in the morning. Take it _easy_ at practice for the rest of the week and I'll check with you on Friday. I want that shunt extra padded, and if anyone gives you a direct hit there, it's going to hurt." Dr. Stevens said realizing that attitude was half the battle in beating cancer and it was obvious that football was what was going to give Tim the attitude to beat this. "No fooling around, sleep, light practice and school. Nothing else. If I hear you're sick or lagging, or anything, you're benched. Got it?" Dr. Stevens said looking at Tim.

"Really I can play?" Tim asked surprised, he figured he was going to have to fight more for this."

"Yes, but you need approval from Coach Taylor… and I am going to talk to too, if he thinks you're not fit to put you in, he's not going to okay?" Dr. Stevens said firmly.

"Okay." Tim said quietly looking at Billy whom had his chin jutted out fight off tears.

"And stop harassing the nurses! I heard about last week, I know you were in shock, but they idolize you around here, take advantage of that, don't abuse it, okay?" Dr. Stevens said.

Tim grimaced then smiled, "Okay!" he said. He couldn't wait to tell Six and Julie that he could play. Once Dr. Stevens left Tim told Billy to call coach and have him come to the hospital immediately.

30 minutes later Eric, Jason, and Julie came careening into Tim's room at top speed. When they saw Tim sitting up smiling, their eyes went wide with shock.

"What the fuck Riggs? We thought something was wrong!" Jason said hitting Tim hard on the arm.

"I can play." Tim said with a shit-eating grin.

"Excuse me?" Eric said with a drawl in voice that said "you're on drugs in you think I'm letting you play.'

Tim looked at Julie and Jason and even Billy, "Can I speak to coach alone for a moment." Tim said quietly, the other three looked at each other, at Tim and Coach and left the room.

Tim looked at coach for a couple of moments quietly before speaking, "I spent most of today puking my guts out. They won't let me leave tonight because I'm apparently too fucking weak. I can deal with all that, but I've decided the one thing I can't deal with is not playing ball." Tim said with a strong conviction in his voice.

"What does Doc Stevens say about this?" Eric said with a clenched jaw. Tami was going to _kill him_. But he saw Tim and he knew that Tim needed this if he even had a chance at winning this. Plus they _needed_ him, even if at 50.

"She said I could, she said she had to talk to you, but aside for easy practice, extra rest and more padding on the shunt, I'm okay to go." Tim said seriously.

Eric brought his hand to his face, crossing his other arm over his chest, in a moment of thought, "Okay here's what we're going to do. You practice at _50_. No contact. You rest a lot, if I think that you need to come out, you don't say damn thing, you got me?" Eric said.

"Yes," Tim said seriously.

"Okay, then. We'll keep you playing as long as possible." Eric said.

"Thank you." Tim said quietly, looking up through his hair that's once again in his face.

"You do realize Mrs. Taylor is going to kill me right?" Eric said looking at Tim with a smirk.

"Mrs. Coach loves me, she'll understand," Tim said with his easy drawl and patented smile.

" That she does," Eric said before becoming more serious "Another thing," Eric said. It occurred to him, that he had not had a chance to talk to Tim about Julie.

"Coach?" Tim asked.

"What's going on with you and my daughter?" Eric asked and in Tim's eyes he went from being the comforting safe coach, to the scary father of the girl he loved.

"I'd like to date her sir." Tim said feeling completely _ridiculous_ because he was laying in a bed, way to small for his body, in a room with _fucking_ balloons on the walls asking if he could date his coach's daughter, after he's just been diagnosed with _cancer_.

"You think that's the best idea?" Eric asked.

"I don't know sir. I just know that I really like her and knowing she's by my side in all this is going to be really important." Tim said quietly looking up at his coach.

"Well now how can a father argue with that?" Eric asked smiling.

"That was my plan." Tim said smiling.

"Okay then. I'm going to head out. I know Jason and Julie want to see you. When you're out tomorrow, you try and come to school, for at lest 3 hours okay. State rules." Eric said, "And you let that girl take of you, you here?" Eric said looking back at his fullback.

"Yes sir." Tim said grinning as Julie and Jason came in. they stayed and hung out for a while, watching TV while Tim dozed, Jason went and got food when Tim refused to eat the dinner they sent him.

"_You have to eat," Julie said looking at the really unappealing meal that was currently sitting on Tim's bed table._

_"There's no way in hell I'm eating that shit." Tim said with a tired voice._

_"If I go grab some dinner from mom, will you eat it?" Jason asked standing._

_They had a stare off those two; Tim hated being taken care of. He was a shitty person to a lot of people for a lot of years, but Jason Street was always taken care of in his eyes. _

_"I'm not wasting gas and my moms good food Tim," Jason said using Tim's first name._

_"Fine, just make sure it's her mashed potatoes." Tim said._

_"Okay" Jason said leaving the room, as Julie said on the chair next to Tim's bed, playing with his fingers quietly._

_"So you're really going to play?" Julie asked worry evident in her voice._

_"I'm not quitting," Tim said obviously ready for a fight._

_"I didn't think you would, I wasn't going to suggest you should, I just want to make sure you're okay." Julie said quietly._

_"I'll be fine, I'm playing as much as coach lets me." Tim said._

_Julie continued to play with his fingers, "Okay then." She said simply._

_They sat quietly waiting for Jason to get back with dinner. Talking quietly but mostly just being together. Tim moved over in his bed and Julie climbed in resting her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat._

_Tim didn't say anything, he knew what she was doing, he just laid and played with her hair and she listened to him live._

The next morning, Tim was up and out of the hospital before Billy had a chance to come get him. The doctor was in early for rounds and after she said he was set to leave, he called Jason and got a ride to school. He was fucking exhausted but he was not going to miss a game on Friday because of a stupid thing like a school time violation. The day dragged on and he ended up sleeping on the couch in Mrs. Coach's office during his study hall, but he made it through the day. Julie had brought him some soup her mom made for lunch, which he didn't want to admit was amazing, and exactly what he needed.

Practice was different, he was sure some of the guys wondered why he wasn't taking hits and why he listened to the coach, when the coach put 2nd string in half-way through practice, but he didn't care. Tim had pads on and was tossing the ball around getting ready for Arnett Mead in the quarterfinals on Friday. This was life was about he decided later on during a quiet dinner with Billy. They sat and ate dinner, talked a little about the game on Friday before Tim did his homework. He fell asleep on the coach before Billy woke him up to go sleep in his bed. He barely remembered falling asleep to begin with but luckily he'd finished his work first. He marveled at the cleanliness of the house the next morning and the breakfast Billy cooked for him, but welcomed it nonetheless. He laughed to himself how it took Tim getting cancer for Billy to get his life on track.

During his shower after his workout with Jason that morning, some of his hair fell out. He knew it was going to happen, Dr. Stevens and Jeff the nurse had warned him, but it wasn't any less shocking. He didn't care all that much about his hair, despite the fact he knew it was one of the reasons so many girls found him attractive. It was just one more reminder of what was happening to him. The day went much the same as the one before, a nap on Mrs. Coach's couch looked like it was going to become a regular thing, as did Julie bringing him lunch, but that was okay because her lunches were a hell of a lot better than the schools or anything Billy could fix him at home.

That afternoon, he excused himself early from practice with Coach's acceptance and headed over to the Taylor's house, where he knew Mrs. Coach would home alone, since he knew Julie was hanging out with Lyla and Tyra that afternoon. The hair falling out that morning had got him thinking and he hoped that Mrs. Coach could help him out.

Tim stood nervously at their door after knocking waiting for Tami to answer.

"Tim! What's up?" Tami asked surprised to see Tim at the door when she knew that practice was still happening. She knew Eric was letting him play, she worried about the decision but she also trusted Eric and knew that he would make the right one for Tim and the team.

"Mrs. Coach" Tim said fidgeting with his fingers.

"What can I do for you?" she asked with her strong southern drawl.

"Well I was hoping you could help me with something." Tim said quietly.

"Well sure now hun, anything you need, come on in" She said opening the door for Tim to follow her into the living room before heading into the kitchen.

"Can I get you something to drink? Sweet tea or lemonade?" Tami asked Tim who was now sitting at the bar fiddling with the saltshaker.

"Lemonade would be great Mrs. Coach." Tim said quietly.

A moment later the glass of lemonade was sitting in front of him with Mrs. Coach next to him with her own glass, "So Tim what can I do for you?" Tami asked.

"Do you cut coach's hair too, or just Julies?" Tim asked knowing that she cut Julie's because Julie had come in the week before this all started with her hair 3 inches shorter.

"I cut Eric's hair too." Tami asked knowing where this was going.

Tim sat there quietly twirling the saltshaker on the counter, loosing his guts to ask what he wanted.

Tami laid a hand on Tim's forearm and squeezed prompting Tim looked over to her through his hand, "Would you like me to cut your hair for you?" Tami asked quietly.

"It's just, some fell out this morning, and I knew this was going to happen, but I just…," Tim started to say.

"Say no more, you stay here I'll go get the scissors." Tami said going into the bathroom and getting scissors and the clippers. She came back out and brought one of the chairs into the kitchen, spreading a sheet on the floor before tapping the chair for Tim to sit down on. He gingerly did so and Tami threw a sheet around him as well. "How short do you want to go sweetie?" Tami asked, spraying his hair with the spray bottle she used to cut Eric's hair.

"Take it off." Tim said trying to sound more confident that he was at that moment.

Half an hour later, Tami was finished and Tim was standing in the bathroom looking at his new buzz cut. Tami was standing leaning on the doorframe as she watched this big strong boy fight not to completely break down in front of her.

"You look good Tim," Tami said quietly knowing that it was just a platitude at this point.

"Thank you ma'am." Tim said quietly running his hand over his head. He looked different with short hair, you could see his face better, one of the reasons he'd always kept it long, he thought now that he had short hair.

"You want to stay for dinner?" Tami asked.

"Thank you ma'am but I know Billy was going to make dinner tonight." Tim said quietly.

"Okay, well you rest up tonight, I'll see you tomorrow at school," Tami said as she walked Tim to the door.

He walked out into the late November night, and turned to look at Tami in the doorway, "Mrs. Coach…" Tim started to say.

"Don't worry, you're secrets safe with me, go home Tim" Tami said smiling as Tim who ran down to his truck and got in. Tami kept her promise and didn't say a word. She told Eric that Tim had come over to see her that afternoon, that he needed to talk but nothing about the hair. Tim just needed a mother in that moment and Tami was happy to be there for him.

Everyone was buzzing about Tim's hair the next morning. Julie hadn't seen him yet, them being on different schedules and all, but by the time she had, the rumor was that Tim had gone off the deep end and joined a biker gang, was dropping out of school and running off with them. She knew that was a lie, but she did wonder what the hell was going on with him. She went out to the bleachers by the field at lunch, knowing that was where Jason and Tim would be. She didn't notice at first, the lack of hair on Tim's head, but as she climbed up to the top of the bleachers, where her friends were all sitting she stopped and stared.

Tim seeing Julie pausing midway up the bleachers stood to go meet her, "We'll be right back, "He said to Jason.

"You didn't tell her Riggs? Man you're stupid." Jason said laughing as Tim left flipping Jason off behind his back.

Tim walked down the bleachers carefully, his eyes locked with Julie's the whole time. When he got to her, he didn't say anything, just grabbed her hand and brought her around under the bleachers to have some privacy.

"So you did shave your head?" Julie finally said sitting on his lap as she ran her hand over his head.

"Your mom did it," Tim said quietly.

"You're not joining a biker gang and dropping out of school too are you?" Julie said checking on the other rumors.

Tim's head snapped up and he stared at Julie, "What? No!" Tim exclaimed.

"Just checking," Julie said rubbing his head and bringing him in to hug him close. "You okay?" she asked. They hadn't talked since before practice yesterday. He had meant to call the previous night, but had fallen asleep and when she called, she didn't want Billy to wake him.

"Yeah, just, I needed a change." Tim said, knowing that she'd understand that some of his hair had begun to fall out.

"Well you look hot," Julie said smiling at him.

Tim looked up at her and smiled, his bright smile that reached his eyes that she loved some much, she couldn't resist and kissed him soundly on his lips, even though she knew if anyone caught them, her parents would here about it, and that would be the end of her and Tim Riggins, no matter what he was going through right then. Before long they joined the rest of them for the remaining time of lunch before they all headed in to school, for the rest of the school day.

Eric stood by the doors watching the group as they walked across the field toward school. It wasn't against the rules to go out to the field at lunch, just not a long of people did it, mostly football players and jocks. He watched the three couples and was amazed how close the three couples seemed to be, especially around what Tim was facing at that moment. Eric observed how strong Tim looked walking with his friends by his side, Julie close to his side, he was relieved that Tim had his friends, because his gut was telling him that Tm's battle was going to be a lot harder than anyone could possibly imagine, even himself. He left the doorway before they reached it, not wanting Julie to think he was spying on her but took note that Tim seemed to be doing well, despite having chopped off his trademark hair the night before. When he saw Tim that morning he knew that it was Tami who'd done it the day before when Tim had come over for "a chat."

Friday night came before any of them knew it. Tim came early, to have the trainer wrap and pad his chest, concealing and protecting the shunt, as much was humanly possible. He appreciated how the guy didn't ask any questions, when coach told him to go ahead after he voiced concerns. The team showed up soon enough and they all went about getting ready how they normally did, except Tim stood off to the side, getting ready quietly by himself before joining his team mates in the usual ruckus behavior that went on before a game. He just needed a moment to himself.

"Okay men, we know what we have to do tonight, we've beat them before, we can again. Just keep to the plan," Eric said starting his pregame speech. He kept it simple; reminding his players about certain specific areas to remember before finishing up with his iconic saying, "Remember clear eyes, full hearts…" Eric said.

"Can't loose, " His team yelled before running out onto the field hitting the yellow and blue P before existing the locker room.

The game that night was electric, Tim was electric, Jason, Smash, everyone was electric, it's like they knew, the players knew that this team needed this state championship, without being told. Arnett Mead didn't know what hit them. With the lead and game solidly in their heads, the score 27-7 a the end of the third quarter Eric took Tim out of the game. He could tell the boy was physically exhausted, but he'd kept him in as long was as necessary.

They won against Arnett Mead that night, they won against Pineville the next week, and they were now headed into the State Championships in Dallas. Tim had been doing Chemo for 3 weeks now; he'd lost the rest of his hair, and subsequently had to tell his team what was going on. They were all about grand gestures wanting to go and shave their heads in support, but Tim had asked them not to, he'd asked them instead to win the championship.

It was just before Christmas, which was on a Wednesday this year. The championship was on a Saturday. Dr. Stevens had moved Tim's weekly chemo from Mondays to the Saturday before, as to give Tim extra time to recover. He had been feeling awful that last two weeks, popping IB profin like candy, and refusing to let anyone know how bad he felt. He was going to play in that final against Dallas Carter High School, no matter what. He knew that Julie knew he felt like shit, but they didn't say anything to each other, instead choosing to ignore what was happening to him. He'd been given steroids to fight off the ill affects of the Chemo, which was helping in staying in playing shape, but 3 ½ weeks into chemo and he was being wrecked by it.

The team was headed to Dallas on Thursday to get ready for the big game, everyone excited. Julie had become an assistant for the team in prior weeks, helping out her dad with stats, so she was on the bus with them. Tami would be driving with Lyla, Tyra and Landry as well as her sister Shelly, who'd been staying with them for a while. Julie sat up front with her father as Tim sat all the way in the back on the three seat bench sleeping. The players on the bus were quiet most of the ride, wanting to let Riggins sleep, an unusual occurrence for their team, who was usually loud and boisterous on bus rides. As they pulled into the official team hotel, Julie saw that there was media outside and jumped up to go back and get Tim up. They'd managed to keep his sickness from the press so far and they wanted to keep it that way.

"Tim?" she said quietly, he just groaned, "Tim!" she said more desperately, they were standing up, they had to get off the bus and if Tim came off much later than everyone else, the press standing outside would wonder what was going on.

"Riggins, get your ass up!" Jason said loudly standing over Tim, shaking his shoulder.

Tim popped up, half asleep and totally disoriented. "We're at the hotel man, put your hat on and lets go." Jason said feeling bad for yelling, but knowing that Tim would understand.

"I feel like shit," Tim muttered as he made his way off the bus, Julie next to him, his arm around her shoulders, the picture of a calm, cool and collected couple, ready to win state. Except for the fact Tim was leaning heavily on Julie to get him in the hotel and into his room without falling over.

Once there, he slept for the rest of the afternoon, woke up briefly for dinner and went right back to sleep, not waking up until the next morning at 8. He felt better with all the sleep, but knew that he still wasn't 100, relatively speaking. Something was wrong, but he wasn't saying a word, he'd come this far, for _this_ game, he wasn't going to let it all slip away now, no matter what.

Julie didn't get to see a lot of Tim that day, they had press and practice and closed-door meetings, then more press. There was a big team dinner that night, which Julie attended along with her mom, but she was seated with her parents, so she didn't get to see him at dinner either.

It wasn't until the next day, Saturday, game day, as they were leaving the hotel to board the bus and head toward the stadium, that Julie got a minute alone with Tim.

"You okay?" Julie asked concerned. She knew something was wrong, and she knew that she should tell her father, but she just couldn't bring herself to, Tim had been holding on to this for so long, it was what was getting him through the treatments, she just couldn't do that to him.

"I'm good." He said smiling for her, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Okay, you go out there and kick their asses, okay?" Julie said. She wouldn't be on the sidelines for this game, she was sitting up with her mother in the stands, alongside Tyra and Landry, Billy, his girlfriend Sam, and even Tim's doctor, Dr. Stevens, who'd grown a soft spot for the potty-mouthed teen as she referred to him.

"Don't you worry, I'm getting you a ring," Tim said before heading on the bus.

Julie caught Jason before he left the hotel, Lyla was already on her bus with the other cheerleaders heading over to prepare. "Jason…" Julie started to say but was cut off.

"I know… don't worry I got it." Jason said looking at Julie before loading the bus. Jason knew Tim should not be playing in this game, but he also couldn't bring himself to do that to Tim. They'd shared a room the night before, he knew Tim was up most of the night puking his guts out, he knew because he'd been up with Tim, helping him. At 3 in the morning, when Tim was finally feeling better, and laying in bed, he'd quietly begged Jason not to say anything, that playing in the game was what got him this far and what was would get him through the rest of it. Jason tried to reason with him, but after it became apparent that it was useless, he'd promised Tim to keep the secret. He was worried about it, but at the same time, he knew that Tim would pull it out, that he'd make it happen.

The game was a close one the whole game. Dillion would go out in front, then Dallas would, back and forth through all four quarters. It came down to the last play. If Dillion got the touchdown, they'd win, if not it went into overtime. Jason knew that Tim was holding on by one thread, and if they didn't finish this now, he wouldn't last, and they'd loose, because this team needed Tim Riggins right now, this team needed to know winning this game was going to save him. He had them huddle up and gave them the play. Then he paused and looked at his team.

"You ready to be state champs boys?" he asked smirking, they all yelled yes.

"Clear eye, full hearts" Jason started to say and was joined by him teammates screaming, "can't loose" at the top of their lungs.

As Julie watched Jason and Tim on the field it appeared to be going in slow motion, she could here them yelling, even through the entire crowd, she could see Tim with the ball. He ran, and dragged two defenders with him toward the goal line, finally falling, with his arms stretched out, the ball firmly gripped in his hands. The referee put up his arm for a touch down that was it, they'd won, and pandemonium broke out. Julie hugging everyone around her before turning to go toward the field, when she noticed Tim wasn't getting up. He was lying on the ground completely still. Before long the whole stadium was silent as Eric and the coaching staff ran out onto the field toward Tim. Eric took one look at Tim and called for the ambulance. Tim was breathing that much he could tell, but he was unconscious and a ghastly white. Julie stood in shock, not moving as the group around her hurried to get their stuff.

"Julie! Come on hun!" Tami said dragging her daughter toward the field. The security tried to give them trouble before realizing who they were. Before long Dr. Stevens was at Tim's head barking orders to the paramedics as they put Tim in the back of the ambulance. As they were wheeling him toward the back of the ambulance, he woke and realized what was going on. Tim, being who he was wanted to make sure people knew he was okay, so he waved his hand as best he could with the strapped before being stuffed into the ambulance with Dr. Stevens and Billy.

Once the crowd knew that Tim was going to be "okay" they resumed their celebration, although at a much more subdue level, especially all the players who were worried about their teammate. But they had protocol to follow and press to do, especially Eric and Jason, so it was several hours before any of them go to the hospital. Billy had called Tami to let her know they'd admitted Tim and that Dr. Stevens was running labs to find out what was wrong, although it was assumed it had something to do with the fact he had cancer.

Once back at the hotel the team members were organizing to head over to the hospital, Eric stopped them knowing, 1, they wouldn't be able to see Tim anyway and 2, Tim would want them to celebrate. Jason would be going because it was Jason, but the rest of the team had strict instructions to stay and celebrate what they'd accomplished that season.

When Tim's group arrived at the hospital they found Billy sitting in the waiting room, with his head down and his shoulders shaking. They all stopped for a moment waiting for someone to speak, Eric went up to Billy and sat next to him.

"Billy what's the news?" Eric asked.

"It spread, it's gotten into his bone marrow." Billy said before he started crying again.

"That's impossible! They said this would work. Dr. Stevens said he would get better!" Julie exclaimed.

"She's in there now with him, they're going to do a more aggressive treatment, he needs a bone marrow transplant." Billy said. "Whatever they were doing isn't working, he's getting worse." With that news, Lyla, Landry and Tyra sat down in the seats behind them, their faces showing the shock and gut wrenching sorrow they were feeling. Tami stood, not knowing what to do as she watched Jason Street high tail it out of the hospital seconds after Julie ran out with hand over her mouth like she was going to puke. She finally decided to sit, thinking that Jason may be more equipped to handle Julie at this moment that she was.

Jason found her out side in the garden on bench sobbing. He sat down next to her and was quiet for ten minutes while she cried before she looked up at him, "we're going to loose him," She said with agony in her voice.

Jason looked at her with venom in his eyes, as he grabbed her, "NO we are not going to loose him! It will get better Julie! Please I need you to believe that, Tim needs you to believe it's going to get better." Jason said quietly as sat next to Julie on the bench. "I've been best friends with Tim Riggins from the age of 5 Julie. That boy has stood by me through everything, we _will_ stand by him for this." Jason said quietly as if he was convincing himself as much as he was trying to convince Julie.

After another ten minutes, Julie heaved a huge sigh and stood to head inside and hear the news. Dr. Stevens had just come out to talk to them all while Billy was in with Tim. His leukemia was more aggressive than they'd planned; they were adjusting his treatment. Instead of just chemo, they were going to dose him with a combination of a lot of chemo _and_ a lot of radiation to kill his bone marrow, then infuse a donor's, with the hope that this would make him better. But at the end of the talk with Dr. Stevens, it came down to the fact Tim was _really _sick and playing in the game had _not_ helped.

If someone had asked Julie if she felt bad about not saying anything to her father, she would have answered "_no_", because Julie saw the look on Tim's face at half-time, when he felt like shit but they were winning 27-24. He'd looked up at her then, and the grin on his face. That's what Julie would remember, that's what made her believe not saying anything was the right decision.

They all got to spend time with Tim, before the hospital kicked them out, except for Julie. He was allowed to have one person stay with him outside of visiting hours. Billy was wrecked and needed sleep, and after a silent conversation with Jason, Tim grabbed Julie's hand tightly and didn't let go. While they were visiting, an assistant coach had brought over some clothes for Tim, upon a call from Tami, so he wouldn't be in a hospital gown. So after everyone left Julie silently helped him into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She had his panthers sweatshirt sitting on the chair next to the bed in case he wanted it, but they both knew that before long, she'd be the one curled up into his sweatshirt, stretching it out, by tucking her knees up into as she did often.

Tim laid in his bed with wires everyone, feeling like shit looking at little Julie Taylor sitting on the side of the bed babbling on about Lyla Garrity's stupid friends on the cheerleading squad and how could Lyla really hang out with them? Tim was finding out how they'd come up to her in the hotel, after the game, just as everyone was learning the truth about what was really going on with him. They'd gone up to her saying they were going to have a bake sale to raise money to help him after Christmas. Tim had to laugh, because Julie was right, a bake sale? That wasn't going to help pay for a fucking bone marrow transplant. He lay there feeling like shit, yet he didn't because Julie was there playing with his hand like she always did, rambling and bambling like she always did and really, how could he blame her? Lyla Garrity was one in a million, and he loved her to death, but those girls she hung out with? He could do without them. Before Julie knew what was happening, Tim was pulling her down to lay with him and kissing her furiously. She got caught up in the moment, kissing him back, wanting him to feel how desperately she loved him. Before she completely lost all conscious thought, she realized that if she weren't careful, she'd disconnect one of the vital pieces of equipment that was currently trying to keep Tim Riggins alive. She gave him a few more chaste kisses before pushing him over to make room for herself. Then she did what she'd been doing for the last three weeks that truly got him through some of the scariest times in his life, she held him. All 6 feet of him was curled up into her tiny frame holding on, like she was the key to him staying alive.

They stayed like that all night. Julie didn't sleep much, what with having 6 feet of person curled on top of her, but she didn't have the heart to move him. Because he was sleeping, and he wasn't waking up from nightmares, or night sweats or any of the horrible things he'd been experiencing in the last month or so. The nurses would come in and of his room all night, checking on him, giving her a smile and making sure she was doing okay as well. By five am, her hand was killing her because it was asleep from Tim laying on her shoulder and cutting off circulation, she was starving and she had to pee so bad she was contemplating doing it right there in Tim's bed. But Dr. Stevens came in at 5:30 to do rounds and promptly kicked her out, much to the displeasure of Tim, who let it be known to Dr. Stevens, he didn't appreciate having his girlfriend being kicked out.

Dr. Stevens rolled her eyes and went on with her work. She was used to Tim Riggins by now; he really didn't faze her. She had the attending from the hospital and his residents with her, as this wasn't her hospital, and she only had visiting privileges, for as long as Tim was there. Julie quietly left the room, to pee and grab a bite to eat while they were seeing Tim. Half and hour later, as she sat in the cafeteria drinking some coffee and absentmindedly chewing on a muffin, she was startled when Dr. Stevens sat down with her.

"Julie." She said.

"Oh jeeze, Dr. Stevens I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" Julie said embarrassed.

"It's fine, you were quite out of it for a moment there. Everything okay?" she asked. In the time that she'd been treating Tim she'd come to know his inner circle pretty well, there was always at least one of them there with him at all times, Julie was usually it. She was quiet and reserved, rarely asked questions; she would just sit and listen, and admonish Tim for swearing at Dr. Stevens. Dr. Stevens was impressed with the support Tim had around him. She wasn't from Dillion but she'd been there long enough to hear about the Riggins boys and their antics. When she'd been assigned Tim's case she was nervous, but from the first moment she met Tim and Billy Riggins she knew that whatever had been the status quo in the past pertaining to their behavior had been swiftly kicked out the window. She admired Eric and Tami Taylor and their steadfast support to Tim and Billy, along with Tim's other friends, their names, never quite sticking in her head. Dr. Stevens was most impressed with Julie and Jason though. These two kids were facing loosing the most important person in their lives and they were not backing down, they were not shying away, as she'd seen many patients friends do, they were there 110.

"Oh you know I'm fine." Julie said.

"It's a lot to take in," Dr. Stevens said simply.

"We'll get him through it." Julie said trying to convey more strength that she felt.

Dr. Stevens beeper went off and she stood, turning to leave, but pausing to gain Julie's attention first, "I understand that you feel you need to be strong for Tim, I appreciate it, because I truly do think it helps him, but don't forget you need someone to be strong for you too." She said before leaving Julie. She had some colleagues in Dallas that she was catching up with since she was in town. Having them look at Tim's case, which was a challenge to her, he'd advanced much faster than what was typical, it worried her. Plus she was preparing for the all out showdown she knew she was going to have with Tim later when she told him, he'd have to stay in Dallas for the transplant, which meant he'd be in the hospital for at least the next two months, if not longer. He could do it back home in Dillion, they had the facilities and the technology, but this hospital was top notch, Tim would be receiving the best care possible. It was a hard sell, one she wasn't sure she'd make, but she felt she had to try.

Tim sat around most of the day feeling like shit and wondering when the hell he could get the fuck out of this place. When he'd asked the nurse that, the women had scowled at him and left the room. He shrugged, having always thought that nurses were trained to be compassionate and patient. He didn't realize how lucky he was having Jeff as his nurse. He snuck in food for Tim and occasionally Jason or Julie as well, sometimes both at the same time. He turned a blind eye, when he caught the three couples having an all out party in his room one night, Dr. Stevens having made him stay over night the days he had chemo.

Tim wanted to go home, and he knew that Dr. Stevens was going to try and convince him to stay in Dallas, at the "better" hospital. Where he had to share a hospital room because insurance didn't cover private rooms, even though in Dillion they gave him one anyway. Where they didn't know him, and his hatred of all things clowns and kiddies, yet here he was once again in a pediatric room, with rainbows on the walls and the nurses wearing scrubs with Winnie the Pooh on them that made them look 15. He was ready for every argument Doc Stevens had ready, he wasn't giving up so easily. That was something he kept thinking about, that the saying slipped off his tongue so many times in his life, yet it held such a huge significance now. He wasn't giving up, no matter what, there was too many good things going on in his life that made it worth sticking around, not the least of which, he and his brother were getting a long and enjoying each other.

In the end, Dr. Stevens lost her battle, but not without a fight, she finally had to admit that Tim was right; he did belong back in Dillion with his family. He'd go home for a week, for the holidays, then check in the hospital to receive Chemo and radiation so strong it killed all of him bone marrow, before being injected with a donor's marrow. He didn't know who it was, the donor, but he'd matched some guy in the national registry, which according to Dr. Stevens was amazing for the first try. Dr. Stevens was hesitant in letting him leave the hospital so soon, but when she mentioned it, Tim didn't even have to say a word, the look he gave her said enough, there was absolutely no way he was staying in the hospital for Christmas, which would be spent at the Taylor's this year.

Later that day, he was brought down to the Tahoe Billy had rented to head back to Dillion. He was sick, that much was evident, so sick in fact he could barely walk. If anyone had seen him, they wouldn't have thought he'd made the winning touchdown in the State Championship the night before. It was just Billy and he on the ride home, the rest of them having gone on the bus and in their own cars, which was fine with Tim. He enjoyed spending time with Billy lately, they laughed and joked around and told dirty jokes. Tim knew how scared Billy was of him dying, he also knew Billy would never say a word about it, so Tim hadn't said anything to him, just made it a point to hang out with his brother as much as possible. And given the recovery time for the transplant that Dr. Stevens was describing, he and his dear old big brother were going to have plenty. He'd undergo chemo and radiation daily, if he could stand it for two weeks before receiving the transplant. After that he was required to limit his exposure to the world until his body accepted the bone marrow and he wasn't as susceptible to infection. The first question he asked himself is how long he'd have to go without being able to kiss Julie. He wouldn't be able to go to school, which slightly worried him, but Tami had assured him that he'd be assigned a home education consultant whose job it was to keep him on target with his education, although she did concede he'd mostly likely have to attend summer school if he wanted to graduate on time.

Christmas was a completely different experience than Tim Riggins had ever remembered. In the past years, he'd been invited to Jason's, which he also accepted for Christmas Eve, but come Christmas morning it was just him and Billy tipping back beers, looking at their ridiculously undecorated house. Ever since his dad had left and his mom had died, he'd stopped believing in the magic of Christmas despite all of Jason's efforts.

This year though, despite the circumstances, was turning out to be different. When they'd gotten back to Dillion on Monday midday, Tim begrudgingly admitted he was wrecked and went to bed and Billy apparently went straight to work because when he woke up 8 hours later, a little bit hungry, there was a Christmas tree with decorations in their living room, with presents underneath it.

Tim stood in the doorway from the hallway to the living room looking the most pathetic tree he'd ever seen, and Billy looking at him with such hope.

"That is _the most_ pathetic tree on earth, where the fuck did you find that thing?" Tim asked laughing as he headed to the counter and sat down.

"Shut up, it's last minute." Billy said quietly looking down, "I just… I just wanted you to have a good Christmas, you know since I've been such a shit about it in the past." Billy said quietly.

Tim sat for a minute and looked at his tree, and thought about all his past Christmases, and really they didn't suck in his eyes back then. "They didn't suck Billy." He said quietly before looking at the tree again and laughing, "but thanks man." Tim said before swiveling in the chair grabbing the empty saltshaker that was always there for him to fidget with.

"I was going to order some pizza, you hungry?" Billy asked.

"Not really," Tim said, his stomach turning at the thought of pizza.

"I could make pasta?" Billy said thinking of something a little lighter.

"I'd eat it." Tim said noncommittal.

They sat and ate their pasta, watching Monday night football.

The next day was Christmas Eve day. They were going to Coach's house for dinner before skipping out on Midnight Mass. He was a changed boy, but not that changed. He was hoping that he and Billy would could just go out to the lake and hang out, watch the sun rise before heading back to the coach's house for Christmas Morning.

Billy woke Tim up before he was ready to get up, on Christmas morning even though they'd been at the lake till late. "What?" Tim asked irritated as he looked at his brother through hooded eyes.

Billy looked at him hopeful, "It's Christmas!" he said pushing his brother's shoulder to get up.

"Great, now go away, I'm tired." Tim said putting a pillow over his head to make a point to Billy.

"Wake up!" Billy said.

"Billy I stopped believing in Santa when I was 4 and dad told me that he didn't exist and he wasn't wasting money on buying me presents!" Tim said sitting up as he looked at his brother, and then he felt guilty. Because during the last couple of weeks, Billy had been pretty truthful with Tim about how he felt about the way he'd treated Tim the last couple of years. True Billy had changed along with Tim this past summer, but once it became apparent that their dad wanted nothing to do with them, even though Billy called him and told him what was going on, Billy and Tim had been inseparable. Billy's boss had let him work from home on the days Tim was too sick to be left alone, and Tami was teaching Billy how to cook so he wasn't feeding Tim shit food.

"I know, but please, for me?" Billy asked quietly.

"You better have made me a kick as breakfast," Tim said getting out of bed and pulling a Panthers Sweatshirt on over his t-shirt.

"Pancakes, bacon and eggs, and hash browns" Billy said as he stood behind Tim as he walked into the living room and was greeted by his "family" as he'd taken to calling them privately. Coach, Mrs. Coach and Julie were there, Jason, Lyla, Tyra and even Landry were all huddled around the living room, the small pile of presents from the night before was now a mountain.

Lyla, excited for such a cozy Christmas morning, couldn't control herself, bouncing over to Tim and hugging him, "Merry Christmas!" she said smiling brightly before going back to cuddle into Jason's arms.

Tim laughed and hugged Lyla, "Merry Christmas Garrity!" Tim said smiling even though he was staring at Julie, who was curled up in a pair of pajama pants and Tim's sweatshirt. The one he was wearing was a new one, because Julie had hijacked his original one. "What are you all doing here?" he asked laughing as he sat on the couch next to Julie, swinging his arm casually around her shoulder. Her parents were there, and coach still scared the hell out of him, he wasn't going to do anything to coach's daughter in front of them, because cancer or not, if coach thought he was hurting Julie, he would not hesitate to kick Tim's ass.

"It's Christmas Tim, you spend Christmas with your family," Tyra said simply like it was a given point, not a situation that had grown in the last couple of months.

They sat around the living room eating the breakfast Tami had prepared, but Billy had supervised chatting happily before opening their presents. Tim was relieved that Jason had dragged him to the mall weeks ago to shop for presents, stating that they would not have time with State so close to Christmas this year. All their presents had apparently been moved from his "hiding" place because he saw his presents, wrapped in the comics from the newspaper sitting next to presents with all kinds of bows and ribbons he could only assume were Lyla's. Julie had two presents, a "family" present, and a real present. Tim had bought her something, but he didn't want her to open in front of anyone else, so he'd gotten her another present to open in front of everyone.

They sat around for most of the morning, opening presents and laughing about the various presents some of them got. Landry, at a loss for what to get Coach, had gotten him a Blue and Yellow stripped hat and mitten set for the game nights when it got cold. He'd gotten one for Tim and Jason as well as getting them CD's of bands he remembered them mentioning they wanted. Lyla and Landry had to leave early to go to church with their families, and Tyra was going with Landry, despite the ribbing Tim gave her for it, so it was just Tim, Jason, Julie, Billy, and Julie's parents for the rest of the present opening.

Tami and Eric had gotten Jason and Tim the same present. It was a photo of them at the State Semi Finals after they'd won. They were mid-air hitting chests and looking like nothing in the world could touch them. The photographer for The Dillion Gazette had emailed her the photo when he'd seen the photo during developing. He knew that Jason and Tim would appreciate it and figured Tami would be able to give it to them.

The two of them looked at their framed pictures, remembering that moment in the photograph and smiled before thanking Coach and Mrs. Coach. Jason got Tim a new Ipod, loaded to the brim with music, because he had broken the Tim's a couple of weeks before and felt horrible about it, knowing how long Tim had saved to buy it for himself for months the year before.

Billy sat on the leather couch holding his present from Tim in his hands, a little worried for what his brother had gotten him. He looked at Tim, before tearing the paper off and opening the box. Inside was the itinerary for a weeklong dream golf vacation in Palm Springs. There were two tickets for Billy to bring his girlfriend, Sam as well as a coupon for them to redeem, which was for Tim's time and patients with watching the Sam's son Bo.

"Tim…" Billy started to say looking at the brochure before looking at his brother.

"Shut up Billy." Tim said bluntly, making it clear, he was not going to listen to Billy say it was too much or anything like that. Billy realized that he wasn't going to win this battle and left it alone.

They finished up the Christmas celebration, with Tim giving Julie his "family" present, a necklace with a simple heart that said friend on the back of it. He'd give her his real present, two tickets to the Killers in Austin along with a necklace holding a small garnet, much like the green rocs they'd found at the lake hanging out one night with the others. He'd give it to her later, when the three couples exchanged gifts together the next day at the lake.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's note:**_

_**Hey sorry for the delay. I had a momentary brain freeze on what I wanted to do with this story. I'm pretty sure I'm back on track now. Thanks for all the reviews they've helped a lot. A special thanks to **__**WhoJackman**__** for helping out, I really appreciate the guidance. If you haven't already go read her stuff it kicks a.**_

As Tim lay in his hospital bed two weeks later after a brutal round of chemo and radiation he wondered if the Christmas week had been a dream. He couldn't even bring himself to fight Dr. Stevens when she told him he was staying in the hospital until further notice. He had another round the next day, and she wanted him monitored closely. He didn't have energy to yell at Nurse Shelly, he didn't have energy to do anything. Julie and Jason had come by to see him this afternoon, but he'd pretended to be sleeping. He didn't have the energy to deal with that right now. To look in Julie's eyes and see the devastation, he couldn't look at 6, and know that he wouldn't be playing with him in their senior year, and he sure as hell couldn't look at Billy, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to go out to Palm Springs with him, like Billy had said he wanted. After the day, Tim felt like he couldn't do anything and he still had another week of this. He'd refused to have visitors all week. He was aching to see Julie, but at the same time, he couldn't bear to see her. He knew Jason was getting pissed at him, hell if it were 6 in the hospital he would have beat someone down by now, but nonetheless, he just couldn't bear to have them there.

The chemo and radiation was wrecking him, day-by-day Tim saw himself waste away and he couldn't bring himself to do anything to stop it. Billy still came to see him everyday even though Tim didn't want to see him. He couldn't refuse him though, Tim was still 17 and Billy was his guardian. Billy was unfailing in his care of his younger brother. Eric wondered if he was trying to make up for the fact the Riggins' boy's parents had completely abandoned them, and in their time of need, they hadn't even picked up the phone to check on Tim. Billy would sit in the corner of Tim's grossly bright room, doing as much work as he could outside the office, thankful for the surprise that was turning out to be his boss.

Dr. Stevens was worried about Tim. After two weeks of intense radiation and Chemo, Tim was completely raw and susceptible to anything and anything, exactly what they needed him to be for the transplant. Except for the fact something was off, he was being _nice_ to people, he was being _nice_ to nurse Shelley, whom Dr. Stevens knew Tim hated. It was Nurse Shelley who first said something to her, pointing out that Tim had not sworn all week. That he had pretended to be sleeping every time Julie or Jason stopped by, that he was barely eating, even the pizza Jeff was bringing him. Dr. Stevens was at a loss for what to do. At this point, with other patients, she'd send them home, give them a couple of days break, but she couldn't' send Tim home, he was too sick. Out of ideas she called the one person she thought might be able to help her.

Eric Taylor was sitting at his office the first week in January going over the spring athletic schedule. Football was over, so he was now giving his full attention to his other job as the athletic director of the Dillion Panthers. His cell phone ringing startled him, and he panicked a little when he saw Dillion Memorial Hospital on his caller ID. He was one of Tim Riggins emergency contacts and he knew that Tim was still in the hospital.

"Coach Taylor," Eric said with a quiver in his voice.

"Coach Taylor, it's Dr. Stevens." She said by way of introductions.

"Is Tim okay?" Eric asked immediately.

"Well, now that's why I'm calling. He's doing about what we expected for this point in the new treatment plan, but I'm concerned." Dr. Stevens said.

"Concerned?" Eric asked.

"Well you see, in fighting cancer, attitude is half the battle, I'm afraid that Tim's attitude, his resolve to fight has faltered." Dr. Stevens said quietly.

"Okay, so what would you like me to do?" Eric asked.

"Well to be honest, I was hoping you could tell me what to do. I am not stupid; I do not live in a hole, I know what Tim Riggins used to be like. Great football player with a horrible track record off the field, I also know that you are his football coach and that he will listen to you." Dr. Stevens said honestly. "He's managed to do so well so far, I would hate to see him fail now." Dr. Stevens said quietly.

"Well now, I can do whatever you'd like me to do, Dr. Stevens but I can't perform miracles. When would you like me to come over?" Eric said standing and collecting his stuff.

"Whenever is good for you, I don't plan on discharging him anytime soon, so he'll be around. I'm here until 5 today." Dr. Stevens said before bidding the coach goodbye. 45 minutes later she was paged Tim's room, Eric Taylor was standing outside with Jeff looking a little perplexed.

"Eric," Dr. Stevens said quietly shaking his hand.

"Dr. Stevens," Eric said looking over at Jeff.

"Shall we?" Dr. Steven said motioning toward the door.

"He doesn't want visitors," Eric said having been informed by Jeff moments earlier as he went to head into Tim's room.

"Well I'm not a visitor, I'm his doctor," Dr Stevens said firmly before heading toward Tim's room. "Let's go." Dr. Stevens said

"I said I don't want visitors," Tim said irritated when he saw Dr. Stevens walk in with coach.

"Good thing I'm not a visitor then." Dr. Steven said ignoring Tim's glare at Eric Taylor.

"He's not." Tim said through clenched teeth. This was humiliating enough; he did not need coach seeing him like this.

"No you're right he's not a doctor, but nor is he a visitor, he's your coach." Dr. Stevens said getting an idea for how she was going to deal with the new Tim Riggins. The old Tim as she knew, was crass, harsh and swore like a sailor, but the old Tim had some fight in him and she needed to find a way of getting that back.

"Except for the fact I don't play anymore." Tim said still gritting his teeth.

"You won't if you keep this attitude up, you'll be six feet underground watching Jason and Coach Taylor achieve all the dreams you set out for yourself. So here's what we're going to do; Coach is going to coach you through this. You won't listen to me? Fine, but you'll sure as hell listen to him, because if you don't, when you get back on that field, I have a feeling you'll wish you were dead with all the shit he'll put you through. Am I right Coach Taylor?" Dr. Stevens said turning to look at Eric Taylor. She hadn't discussed her new plan with him, mainly for the fact she was coming up with it right now, but she sure as hell hoped he went along with it.

Eric nodded before turning his glare at Tim, "There are a lot of steps in Dillion Grandstand." He said.

"So here's the deal, what Coach Taylor says goes, you do what he wants, when he wants, if he says you're to be up and out of this bed, they you are, if he says you are to put on a mask and go outside, then you better get your ass outside, if he says you are to let your friends, who _love you and are worried about_ come visit you, well then slap on a smile and get ready to socialize, am I making myself clear?" Dr. Steven said looking at Tim who was laying in his bed, curled up looking like he was 5, not 17.

"I hate you," Tim said quietly looking up at his doctor.

"That's fine Tim, I'm not here to win a popularity contest, my job is to save your life, and Coach Taylor here is going to help me, do I make myself clear?" Dr. Stevens said firmly. Tim just stared at her stubbornly.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," Dr. Stevens said firmly staring at Tim.

"Fine" Tim said through gritted teeth.

"Good" Dr. Stevens said before leaving the room.

"I'm just so tired." Tim said leaning back into his pillow looking at the balloons on the wall of his room.

"I know you are, I know but it's nice out so we're going to go outside." Eric said grabbing the wheelchair in the corner and bringing it over to Tim's bed. Tim was about to protest but one look from Coach told him to _shut the hell up_. He bundled on his long sleeve shirt and his sweatshirt under his jacket before laying a blanket on his legs before letting coach wheel him out to the garden. They sat quietly for a long while before Coach started talking again.

"When's the last time you were outside?" Eric asked.

Tim shrugged his shoulders.

"Well that's going to stop now. Dr. Stevens told me you have another week of chemo and radiation and then your transplant. You won't be able to go out at first after that so we'll be coming out here every day, am I clear." Eric said not joking around.

"Yes, coach," Tim wondering if Julie was going to show up today. He'd been blowing her off the last week, but he hoped that she hadn't given up on him yet.

"Good," Coach said pulling his bag around in front of him, "Now Mrs. Taylor gave me a bunch of your school work, what say you and I take a crack at this?" Coach said, again in a tone that said, don't mess with me.

Tim looked at his coach for a moment, "You really are going to make me suffer for driving you crazy all those practices aren't you?" Tim said sarcastically.

Eric smiled before puling out Tim's math textbook and a calculator. Tim lasted about a half hour before it was obvious he was getting tired, so after finishing his math work, Eric brought Tim back to his room, where Julie was waiting.

"Hey there," Eric said to his daughter.

"Hi," Julie said quietly not meeting Tim's eyes.

"I've got to get back to the school, you okay here for a while?" Eric asked his daughter, not giving Tim a chance to voice his opinion.

"Yes, sure." Julie said tentatively.

"Good, I'll pick you for dinner," Eric said before leaving Julie to push Tim back into his room. They went about getting Tim in bed silently, Julie standing as support for Tim, but not needing to help a whole lot.

Julie stood and let Tim get settled into bed before assessing him with a glare, "You done being an asshole?" she asked bluntly. Tim looked up suddenly, not used to hearing Julie talk like that. "Don't look at me like that. This fucking sucks, you know that, I know that, the whole fucking town knows, but I will not let you push me away, capiche?" Julie said.

"Will you just lie with me?" Tim asked, his way of acknowledging what she said.

"Tim, you get that right?" Julie said not letting him off the hook.

"Yes, I get it." Tim said through gritted teeth.

"Good, now move your scrawny ass over, I'm tired." Julie said toeing her shoes off and climbing into bed. She wasn't really tired but she could tell Tim was and she knew he wouldn't take to her telling him to sleep.

Tim fell asleep before Julie was comfortably settled in the bed; he curled up with Julie in his arms and was out like a light. She had a sterile gown on and had scrubbed her hands like Jeff had shown her, but she was still nervous, to see him like this, to see him hurting and sick, was literally killing her.

After that day, Coach Taylor was in the hospital with him everyday, getting him outside, into the pool for low impact workouts, doing his homework with him, sitting with him, while he had the last of the poison poured into his body. By the end of the next week, Tim was confined to his bed, too weak to do much of anything, although Eric did make him listen as Landry sat and read his English book to him in order to try and stay as up to date on his work as possible. Despite his weakened and sick state, Tim was back to his "shiny" self, much to the relief of Shelly who was getting creeped out by the _nice_ Tim.

By the third week of January, Tim was completely in isolation, no one was allowed in his room, and he wasn't allowed out. He'd been moved to a room in ICU, which had a glass window and a phone, for people to converse, but really since Tim spent most of his time sleeping, it was Eric, Billy, Jason and Julie visiting. Lyla, Landry and Tyra would come by, but not as religiously as Jason and Julie who were there every afternoon without fail despite, Tim's earlier behavior. The Saturday before Tim's surgery, Julie had had an all out fight with her parents after getting home from the hospital, declaring she would not be going to school on Monday, instead joining Billy and Jason in the waiting room during the procedure. Eric and Tami had at first refused, worried with how consumed their daughter seemed to be with Tim, but after seeing her collapse in despair, Eric had relented, and Tami followed suit. Besides seeing their daughter so wrecked, they did concede it was hypocritical for them to assume Julie would go to school, when both Tami and Eric were planning on being the hospital on Monday.

Tami was worried about her daughter, but at the same time she could see how horribly wrecked by this her husband was as well and wanted to support them in their quest for Tim to heal. Tim Riggins was the son Eric had never had; even over Jason. Jason was his #1 star sure, but Jason had good parents who looked after him, and were around to give Jason the support and advice he needed. Tim, up until 6 months ago had been on a path to nowhere at lightning speed. He'd turned himself around, and Billy had really stepped up to the plate since he'd been ill, but Tami knew that Eric still considered Tim as his project, and would not allow himself to fail.

The group got to the hospital early on Monday and went through the arduous process of scrubbing themselves thoroughly and donning sterile robes so that they could _be_ with Tim before the surgery, something they hadn't been able to do for a week. Lyla, Landry and Tyra were going to be there as well, but they'd all come down with a cold the previous week, and were thus barred from coming anywhere close to Tim, for fear that they could transmit something; at this point even a simple cold could kill him.

The transplant was a fairly simple procedure, he wouldn't even be in a OR, however after it was finished, Tim would once again be in isolation, and they all wanted to be close with him one more time. Eric and Tami left first, then Jason and Julie, Billy was going to stay with him until the last possible minute. Before Jason and Julie left for the waiting room, Tim had spoken to Julie alone.

"Coach," He said quietly barely strong enough to speak.

"33," Julie said trying to keep herself from crying.

"I just wanted to say, I've never been as happy, as I'm with you." Tim said holding Julie's gloved hands, longing for the feel of her soft skin. "And no matter what happens, I love you," Tim said quietly.

"Listen to me you shit head, none of that. You are going to get through this. You are going to get some new marrow, the cancer is going to take a flying leap of a cliff and you're going to go on and play next fall before going to whatever school is stupid enough to take you." Julie said harshly, "After all those football players at those big ass famous schools, need to learn how to party Riggins style." Julie said smiling.

Tim didn't have the energy or the heart to contradict her, so he just lay in his bed, holding her hand tightly and smiling at her. Billy knocked on the window to let her know it was time. She nodded at Billy before leaning down to whisper in Tim's ear.

"I love you so much," She said kissing Tim's forehead through her facemask and leaving the room, not allowing him to respond, for fear she'd loose it again, much like she'd done when she'd left the hospital the day before, sitting and crying in Jason's Street's truck for almost an hour.

Billy grabbed her hand, squeezing it quickly before Jason wrapped his arm around her in support and brought her to the waiting room where her parents were already camped out. It turned out that Tim was allowed to have someone with him during the transplant, and as much he'd love to have Julie by his side, he needed Billy more. His brother, his flesh and blood, the person who until recently hadn't been able to do much of anything in the way of caring for him, had done more than he could ever thank him for.

Not much was different after the transplant than the before except for the fact, visitation was kept to the absolute minimum to keep Tim safe and healthy. Five days after the transplant Julie came down with the flu and was not allowed near the hospital, nor were her parents. She called Tim everyday, however most of the time it was to leave a message with Billy because Tim spent much of the first two weeks sleeping.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone!**

**Thanks so much for your reviews. Here's the last chapter. I wasn't planning on making it this short but I like the way I brought it all back together so I'm going to leave it here. There'll be an epilogue coming soon hopefully. Thanks again for the kinds words.**

Two Months Later

Billy came into Tim's bedroom and watched his brother sleep. It was 7am. He had exactly an hour to get Tim up, showered, give him something eat and get him to school on time. It was Tim's first day back to school since before Christmas, Billy figured he should at least get the boy there on time. 

Tim had been home for a month, not allowed out of the house at all, in order boost his immune system. He'd begged and pleaded with Dr. Stevens to let him out of his house since he'd left the hospital, and she'd finally relented on Friday. 

Billy was nervous to let him go, Tim was still weak, he still tired easily, could he really handle the whole day of school? But Tami Taylor had met with them on Friday afternoon after Dr. Steven had given Tim the go ahead. Tami had said that Tim was welcome to crash on the couch in her office. He'd be taking the minimum classes, no extras and absolutely _NO_ football practice. Tim had tried to argue that, but Coach had joined the meeting by then and informed them all in no uncertain terms, Tim would _NOT _be playing any football, would _NOT_ be working out, he _WOULDN'T_ be doing anything that had anything with that had the name Dillion, Panther or Football in it until Dr. Stevens said it so. Tim had to smirk at that. Ever since Dr. Stevens had called Coach in two months ago, coach had been a thorn in his side, worse than any football practice could have ever been. 

"Let's go Tim, time to get up." Billy said banging on the door as he stood at the door putting a shirt on, before grabbing a tie. Ever since Tim had gotten sick, and he'd gotten a swift kick in the ass in the form of his little brother having cancer, Billy had been doing well at work, he'd even earned a promotion a month ago, thus the need for a suit and tie. 

Tim groaned as he rolled over and looked up at his brother through hooded eyes.

"You're the one who fought so hard to get to go to school, you may want to be on time for at least the first day. Come on get up, I'll even make you breakfast." Billy said heading toward the kitchen.

"I'm not hungry," Tim said dragging himself out of bed toward the bathroom.

"Nice try Tim!" Billy said sarcastically as he prepared the high calorie breakfast Dr. Stevens had prescribed since Tim had returned from the hospital 50 lbs lighter than he was before. He'd gained back 16, but he had a long way to go. Unfortunately his anti-rejection medicine rendered him appetitless. Which meant Billy had spent much of this past month trying to keep Tim settled resting and shoving food down his brother's mouth. Not an easy task in the least.

Tim showered then chocked down the breakfast Billy made him, even though he wasn't hungry, he knew he had to eat, and if he wanted to go to school then he would have to eat. He couldn't believe he was actually begging to go back, but if he spent any more time with Billy in the house he was going to go crazy. Julie was picking him up, he was still not allowed to drive, despite not being given a reason and Julie had recently gotten her license. He knew her parents rarely let her drive, so she was ecstatic to pick him up, and he'd let her, but the minute he was cleared to be back in his truck, he would be _picking her up_, thank you very much, he thought himself as he stepped out of his house looking at Julie as she sat in the driver's seat of her father's car, smiling brightly.

"I can't believe I can't wait to get to school," He said chuckling as he climbed into the passenger seat.

Julie just smiled brightly at him and leaned over to give him a kiss. "I'm so excited!" She squealed as she kissed him before going back to concentrating on the road. Tim chuckled to himself, because he knew his sickness was as hard on her and Jason and his friends as it had been on him. He was a little worried about the reception he'd receive at school, he did _not_ want a big deal made, but he knew that no matter what there would be some hoopla, thank got he had Julie, Jason, Tyra, Landry and Lyla by his side. As they pulled into the parking lot he saw his friends waiting for them by Jason's car, the girls leaning against Landry and Jason as they waited. Other students turned and stood as they watched Julie and Tim come into the parking lot and park. The watched as they got out of the car and greet their friends and they stared as Tim threw his hat back into the car, not wanting to bother, showing off his new hair, just a little longer than a buzz cut, much like it was when Mrs. Taylor had shaved it the previous fall. Tim walked around the car and grabbed Julie into his arms and kissed her.

"If everyone's watching we might as well give them a show," He said smiling as he pulled her into his arms, just as Tami and Eric Taylor pulled into the parking lot in Tami's car.

"Morning, Riggins," Eric said smiling at him, and Tim just knew that despite how happy Coach was to have him back at school, he'd be paying for that as _soon_ as he was able to practice again.

"Morning coach." Tim said with a shit-eating grin on his face. If coach wasn't allowed to beat him up in practice yet, he was going to take full advantage of it, holding Julie close.

"Later Riggins," Coach said as Tami pulled the car around to where his parking spot.

"Later coach" Tim said as they met Jason and the rest of them.

"Man, you are going to get slammed in practice." Jason said laughing as the six of them walked into the school.

"I still have 3 months till I'm allowed in the locker room never mind on the field, he won't remember by then," Tim said smiling as they walked down the hall, students yelling out greetings to him while they walked to their homerooms.

"You seem to forget who my father is," Julie said smiling before leaning up to peck her boyfriend on the cheek and peeling off. "This is me," she said nodding toward her homeroom. She was only a sophomore thus had a different homeroom than the rest of them.

"Your father loves me!" Tim said confidently.

"Yes but you're still her boyfriend and for that reason alone, he is willing to put any feelings of fatherly love he has for you aside to pummel you for touching his girlfriend!" Landry said brightly.

The rest of them just looked at him, while Tim rolled his eyes used to Landry's humor by then, "Thanks Landry." Tim said before turning his attention back to Julie.

"I'll see you at lunch." Tim said smiling at her.

"See ya Jules!" the others said before heading toward their homerooms. 

By third period Tim was exhausted. He hated to admit that sitting through three periods of school wrecked him, but the agreement was that he'd rest if he needed it, and he didn't want anything to wreck his game plan for getting back in school and playing again, so much to his own chagrin he headed toward Mrs. Coach's office after his third period, intent on sleeping for his 4th period study hall before lunch 5th period, with Julie and his friends.

"Hey Mrs. Coach," Tim said quietly standing at the door to the guidance counselor's office.

"Hey Tim!" she said smiling brightly. "How's it going?" she asked motioning him to sit down on the couch. She hoped he didn't notice the fact she had a new office, with a longer couch.

"Good, nice new digs, Mrs. Coach," Tim said looking around Mrs. Taylor's new office, sitting on the new obviously longer couch.

"Thanks I'm moving up in the world!" Tami said smiling.

"Good for you," Tim said stifling a yawn.

Tami smiled affectionately. "I've got to run and do some stuff, meetings, why don't you rest for a little bit?" she said standing with her files.

"You don't mind?" Tim asked to tired to resist the invitation.

"Not at all." Tami said quietly. I'll be gone for much of 4th and 5th period you take all the time you need." Tami said standing.

"Thanks." He said turning and curling up on the couch and falling fast asleep.

Tami sighed to herself and headed out of the office, heading toward her husband's office to work on his computer while Tim slept. He was just getting off the phone when she walked into his office.

"Hey, what's up?" Eric asked looking up at his wife from behind his office.

"Tim's napping, can I borrow you're computer for some email stuff?" Tami asked quietly as she sat on the desk in front of her husband.

"Sure I have to go meet with Mac anyway. How'd he look?" Eric asked.

"Honestly? Tired. But I think he likes being out of the house. I'm thinking he'll probably only last a half-days for a while." Tami said stealing her husband's chair as he stood.

"He looked okay though?" Eric asked concerned.

"He looked okay Eric, besides you saw him this morning!" Tami said smirking. Eric had railed over his daughter "_sucking face_" with Tim Riggins in the parking lot that morning. "He seemed good this morning at least." Tami said laughing as she turned toward the computer.

Tim slept through 5th period lunch with Julie before he woke for 6th period science, swearing to himself he hurried out of Mrs. Coach's office and hauled ass down the hall toward science. He slid in just before Mrs. Hayward shut her door. He pulled his notebook out and turned to a fresh page, smiling to himself when he saw what was on the page in Julie's distinctive writing.

Hey there sleeping beauty,

I was going to wake you, but I didn't have the heart. I put a sandwich in your front pocket, don't forget it or else you'll be sleeping smelly .

I'll meet you out by my car after class. 

I have to check in with Dad, and then I'll be there.

See you then.

Have a good afternoon

Me

He sat in the back of his 6th period math class and took notes while he discreetly ate the sandwich Julie had put in his bag, not wanting to get in trouble for eating in class, when in all reality, he could come in naked and sleep through the whole class and _no one_ would say anything to him. Which if he was honest with himself pissed him off to no end. He was sick of the looks of pity, he was sick of being babied, he was sick of it all, what he wouldn't give to be beat up by coach today after school, he thought to himself as he sat listened to the teacher prattle on about something. The shitty thing about this all was that he'd been doing well in his classes before the end of the semester, and despite how far behind he was, he was expected to keep up the effort he'd been putting forth before he'd gotten sick and that was a little daunting at this point. 

By the time school let out Tim was dragging his feet to get to Julie's car. 'Thank god she didn't lock it,' he thought to himself as he climbed into the back and fell asleep. He knew that she had to talk to her dad so it would be a little while, but he couldn't wait, he was exhausted and the minute head hit the balled up Dillion Panthers sweatshirt that was on the seat, he fell asleep, smelling Julie's shampoo on _his_ sweatshirt.

Julie walked across the parking lot after checking in with her father. He wanted her to tell him how Tim's day had gone, but in all honestly after checking in on him at lunch to find him sleeping she hadn't seen him at all. He was a junior and in all different classes than she. Plus he'd apparently slept for half the day in her mother's office.

Julie sighed to herself as she came up to her car and found Tim sound asleep in her backseat. She knew it was too soon for him to come back, but she'd sat back and smiled, supported him, and scoffed to herself when Dr. Stevens, Billy, and _her dad_ had Okayed him coming back. She quietly got into the drivers' seat and put the car into drive and headed toward the lake, nodding to Jason as he came out to his car with Lyla; Tyra and Landry climbing into her truck. They'd meet her there, she knew. She quietly called her mother to let her know where they were headed; she had _one_ afternoon to convince him it was too soon to go back to school, she was hoping that his friends would help her, although she was worried about Jason, who was obviously overjoyed to have his best friend _"back."_

Once they got out to the lake and set up their stuff, Julie came back to the car to find Tim sitting up looking a little confused.

"Hey there," she said smiling as she leaned into the driver's side window.

"I went to sleep in the parking lot at school," Tim said looking out to see his friends already sitting down by the water.

"I know, I thought you'd like to relax." Julie said.

"I'm wrecked Julie," Tim started to say.

"I know, Jason and Lyla have a ton of work, as does Landry, we were all going to just hang out and do some homework, we just wanted to come out here, it's one of the first day's it's warm enough in a while," Julie said looking at Tim hopefully. "I'll take you back to Billy's though if you want." She said quietly.

"Naw, it's cool. " Tim said climbing out the car and grabbing Julie's hand as they walked toward the group. He collapsed into his chair and began doing his math homework as everyone else sat quietly working on their work. He had fallen back asleep within 10 minutes. Julie sighed to herself before looking at Tim sleeping then at Jason.

"He's not going to listen to me you know," Julie said looking at Jason, who avoiding her look.

"What makes you think he'll listen to me?" Jason said knowing what Julie was talking about, knowing that she was right despite how much he wanted Tim to be better, he wasn't and school was too much for him.

Julie just glared at him.

"Fine," Jason said putting his history textbook down and walking over to Tim.

"Timmy," Jason said quietly, "Timmy," He said again as Tim woke up.

"Six," Tim said quietly waking up a little embarrassed that he couldn't even stay awake for 10 minutes.

"I've got the boat ready come on," Jason said pulling Tim up and heading out toward the dock, leaving the others to do their work.

They'd been out there for an hour when Tim looked over at Jason, "I know what you're going to say," He said trying to sound obstinate.

"You know I'm right too," Jason said simply.

"I'm sick of that fucking house." Tim said quietly.

"So just come in the mornings, leave at lunch." Jason said quietly. "Mrs. Coach will rearrange your schedule, so you won't miss afternoon classes, go to them then go home an sleep," Jason said quietly. "Tim we won this year, and I fully plan on winning again next year, I need you there with me, you can't do that if you're dead." Jason said bluntly using the excuse of football to let Tim really know how he felt about it.

"I'm sick of all this shit." Tim said quietly.

"I know you are, but please..." Jason started to say.

"Fine, but only because if I do this maybe coach will see I'm serious about my health and actually let me do something beside walk around a fucking track _holding_ a football." Tim said with venom.

Jason laughed, of everyone in their small family that had formed around this experience, Coach Taylor had emerged as an overprotective father figure to Tim, stopping him from doing _anything_ that may in any way shape or form hurt him. "Keep dreaming man, until you gain all that weight back, and can stay up for more than 3 hours at a time, it's walking with the grandma's for you." Jason said laughing as he remembered the scene he'd witnessed a while back when Tim was still in the hospital. 

After that Tim only went to school for the first 4 periods, Math, Science, English and History, no electives, no football practice, sometimes lunch though, to hang out with Julie, but usually he was wrecked and just made it home after Math, before falling into bed asleep. 

Tim was slowly feeling like himself again, he was slowly gaining weight, slowly gaining back his energy, although by early April he was still only doing required classes, what he really wanted and to be honest _needed_ was football. But neither coach, nor Dr. Stevens would hear of it and it was driving Tim crazy! But he would bide his time, do what they asked of him, despite the annoyance of it all. He luckily had been upgraded to jogging and _light_ weight lifting under the supervision of coach, which meant even if he wanted to push himself, he couldn't. 

Before he knew it, school was out and it was summer. He was taking summer classes in the mornings to catch up and working his usual landscaping job with Jason in the afternoons. Julie was a lifeguard at the local pool, so after work he'd go over and hang out with her, although he was not allowed to swim, for fear for the germs, which was fine with him, public pools were gross anyway. He didn't tell anyone but he was starting to get nervous, Dr. Stevens still wasn't letting him practice and he was worried he wouldn't have time to get in shape for the fall season. He hadn't heard from any schools, like Jason, despite his amazing season last fall and he knew it probably had to do with the fact that they knew he had cancer, this fucking this was going to ruin his life.

As he laid on the doctor's table in a stupid gown the second week in July Tim resolved this was the day he was going to get Dr. Stevens to let him start practicing again. They went through he song and dance of the bimonthly check up, the blood work, the MRI, the scans, everything, and then he met her back in her office at the end of the day with Billy.

"So." He said looking at Dr. Stevens expectantly.

"You're officially in remission," she said smiling, although she knew that this victory would be short lived by the information she was about to give him.

"So I can start practice again?" Tim asked smiling.

"Tim…" Dr. Steven started to say.

"What? I'm in remission, I feel fine! I need to start getting into shape!" Tim said starting to get irritated. He'd been irritated before but had held his temper, he was now in remission, and he didn't understand what the hold up was.

"Tim I can't clear you to play. You're still 30 pounds lighter than I'd like you to be, you've just a bone marrow transplant less 6 months ago, you're still healing no matter how good you feel, it's just not safe." Dr. Stevens said her heart breaking as she looked across her desk at Tim, who was either about to break something or cry, she didn't know which.

"Is that all?" Tim asked through clenched teeth.

"Tim…" Dr. Stevens started to say.

"I need to get to work, are we done?" Tim asked.

"Tim we really should talk more…" Dr. Stevens said.

"I have work." Tim said clenching his jaw.

"Fine go, if you have any questions, or if you need anything…" Dr. Stevens tried to say.

"Nothing from you…" Tim sneered.

"Don't forget to schedule you're next appointment, I want to see you in a months." She said as he was walking out the door, he merely raised hand before slamming her office door.

Tim didn't think as he left the hospital, he jumped in his trunk and his the nearest convenience store, bought a 24-pack of beer and headed to the bluff. He couldn't think, because that required him to think about his life without football, without Jason Street, without Coach Taylor, and really without Julie, and his life had sucked too much so far, loosing football would just put him over the edge. So instead of thinking Tim sat on the tailgate of his truck and drank.

When it was dark out and he'd finished the entire pack of beer he lay back in the bed of his truck and stared up at the stars and he let everything go. The tears came quietly at first, with no audible recognition that they were there, but eventually Tim couldn't even hold that in, and he sobbed loudly. Sure he'd cried before during this whole mess, silent tears, he'd allowed only Julie to see him all those months ago when he'd first been diagnosed, but after that, there had been none, during the pain, and the loss of hair, and the throwing up, he had not cried. He'd had a reason to fight, a reason to keep going, football, Austin, it was all still there for him. But loosing football, the thought of loosing it, was just too much for him.

The next morning Tim woke, hung-over and not completely sure what had happened, but then he remembered, and it all came slamming back to him. So instead of heading back to town where he knew everyone was probably worried about him, as he was vaguely aware he'd missed diner at the Taylor's last night, he headed back to the store and bought more beer, he stopped and grabbed some food, and a sleeping bag at the house, knowing Billy would be at work, and then he headed toward the lake. Because if he was going to loose it all, then at least he had the lake, where it all began.

Tim stayed out by the lake, drinking and sleeping and looking up at the sky all day. He would have stayed all night had Billy not shown up at 10:30 to pick him up.

"You do realize that your girlfriend has been sitting and crying hoping you're okay in our living room for the last 5 hours right?" Billy asked as he walked over to the bed of Tim's truck and sat on the tailgate next to his brother. Tim didn't answer.

"When you didn't show up last night, I assumed that you were out with Jason, when I didn't see you this morning, I assumed that you slept over there. When I hadn't heard from you 12, when you were supposed to drop off those checks for me to deposit I started to wonder where the fuck my brother was. So I called Jason and low and behold he hadn't heard from you, neither had Lyla, or Landry, or Tyra or Julie not even Coach. As I was starting to get a little pissed off I got a phone call, from you doctor, who I didn't even know you had an appointment with. So she told me an interesting story about you going into _remission_, not being able to play football, how you stalked out of office without so much as a thank you. Then Julie shows up at work, wide-eyed and scared something might have happened to you. I reassured her you were merely being a selfish asshole, and I'd have you home soon." Billy said looking over at Tim, who once again didn't say anything. "Tim…" Billy started to say.

"There's nothing you can do Billy," Tim said his voice raw with emotion, "There's nothing to say or do." Tim said quietly.

"There is actually, had you listened to Dr. Stevens further you would have heard her say, you're not out for the season." Billy said quietly.

"What's the point? Matt Warner has been fighting for my spot since he got on Varsity. Coach is going to give it to him, and I'll be out." Tim said quietly.

"There's where you're wrong son," Coach Taylor said walking over to Tim and Billy. He'd rushed home from school when Julie had called him frantic to find Tim. Billy had called looking, but he hadn't seen Tim so he had no idea where he would be. He'd then called Dr. Stevens himself to find out what was going on, and since then had been trying to decide what he was going to say to the boy, who'd become like a son. 

"You're right, I'm going to have to start Matt Warner, but it's not his spot, it never will be. The minute you're ready to come back in the game, you're there. You're still on this team, you'll still be my captain this year." Coach Taylor said quietly standing by the end of Tim's truck.

When Coach said Tim would still be the captain, he sat up quickly and looked at coach aghast, "Coach you can't do that, it's against the rules." Tim said quietly. "I appreciate it, but…" Tim said quietly.

"That's where you're wrong son, you are part of this team, you are on the roster; you are and will always be #33. You got me?" Coach said looking at Tim. Tim didn't know what to say, he just sat on the edge of the tailgate with his brother, floppy hair in his face. "Son, no one should ever have to go through what you've been through this year, no one. But I don't think anyone else could have done it the way you did. Never once did you quit, sure you complained and you were a pain the ass, but what else is new." Coach said smiling, which made Tim smirk a little. "I have never in my life been as proud of a player as I am of you, nor will I be. You just keep on working, we'll get you out on that field don't you worry." Coach said quietly.

"Yeah coach," Tim said quietly at a loss of what to say. He'd suddenly sobered up completely, despite the amount of beer he drank that day.

"You got on home with Billy and I'll see you at school in the morning okay," coach said quietly as the three of them went toward Billy's truck. Tim probably could have drove, but he was tired and just wanted to lie down and never get up.

On the way back to town Tim was silent mostly before it occurred to him that he was going to have one pissed on girlfriend waiting for him at home. As they drove up into the driveway Julie was sitting on the stoop reading a book. Tim went to get out of the truck and noticed Billy wasn't coming with him.

"You going somewhere?" Tim asked.

"I'm going to stay at Sara's tonight, I'll see you tomorrow." Billy said of the girl he'd been seeing lately. "You okay?" he asked Tim.

"I am, sorry for the disappearing act." Tim said apologizing to his brother.

"That's fine, I have a feeling she's going to be more pissed than I am," Billy said looking over at Julie who was glaring at Tim, with steam coming out of her ears.

"Yeah, that's probably true, "Tim said smirking as he looking at his furious girlfriend.

"She's a spitfire that one," Billy said quietly.

"Yeah," Tim said quietly.

"I'll see you in the AM little bro," Billy said starting his truck and pulling out of the driveway.

"Bye" Tim said before turning to head toward the door. He didn't say anything to her at first as they walked into the house. They didn't actually say anything at all, just went and got a bite to eat from the kitchen, before heading to his room. They both stripped down to their pajamas, Julie grabbing a Dillion Panther's T-shirt of his off his floor before crawling into bed with him. He knew she probably told her parents that she was stay at Lois' or Tyra's, which they in turn knew was bullshit, but he was too tired right then to worry about Coach and Mrs. Coach killing him for what he _could_ be doing with their daughter. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers before crawling into bed next to her, surprised when she burrowed into his arms. They lay silent for a while, neither of them sleeping, but neither of them speaking either.

"You okay?" Julie asked finally.

"No," Tim said honestly, "but I think I will be." He added he after a moment of silence.

"Good," Julie said quietly.

They were silent again for a while, Julie rubbing her hand over his that was draped across her stomach as he held her near to him, drinking in the sent of her shampoo.

"Jules…"Tim started to say when he was cut off.

"I know Tim, I know, I probably would have done the same thing. Let's just sleep, mom said she believed me when I told her I was at Lois' so we have till tomorrow morning when she realizes that was bullshit." Julie said laughing. Julie sighed in relief as she felt Tim's body relax around her as he laughed. "I love you Tim," she said finally as they fell asleep.

"I love you too Jules," he said his voice think with sleep as he tightened his grip on her, as if holding her closely would prevent everything bad and ugly about the world from getting to him.

As Tim continued to work hard on catching up in school and gaining his strength back he reflected often on his two-day visit to his former self and was amazed by the fact even when he was drinking his sorrows away he felt like it wasn't the right thing to do. He had truly changed. Sure, he would always have that lazy smirk and the "who the fuck cares" appearance to him, he thought maybe it was part of his charm, but gone were the days when he couldn't bring himself to go to school, or be on time and _somber_ for practice. Gone were the days of cheating on Tyra and not caring. He realized he had a life he wanted to lead and the only way he was going to do that was to actually pay attention. Sure Saturday nights were spent at the lake drinking and hanging out with his friends, but he never drank so much he couldn't get Julie back to the Taylor's by her 12 O'clock curfew, or that he'd be in pain when he woke up at 8am on Sunday morning to go play golf with Billy. They'd never been a church type family and just because the two brothers had gotten their shit together didn't mean they were going to start, playing 9 holes on Sunday morning was as good as any church they'd ever been too. 

True to his word, Coach kept Tim as one of his Captains, with Jason and Smash as the other two. He came to practice morning and night all through August, doing as much as he was allowed to, and when _his_ practice was done, he'd stay and do whatever coach needed him to do, which was trying to get Matt Warner ready, despite the overwhelming evidence that he was never going to be Tim Riggins. 

School started back up at the end of August and gone were the lazy days of summer and nights spent at the lake. In reality that had stopped really when football began three weeks previous, the real difference is that he had to be awake at 7am each day, much to his chagrin. Tim Riggins may be a reformed man, but he was _never_ going to be a morning person. 

With the passing of the first three weeks of school and the first two games of the season, came Tim's permission from Dr. Stevens to work out full-time, full contact with the team. He still shared practice time with Matt Warner, who was still playing despite his dismal performance the last two weeks. Dr. Stevens had warned that it would still be a good three weeks before he was allowed to suit up for a game, but Tim was practicing like it would be that Friday night. Not suiting up each Friday was killing him, but Coach made every effort to include him in as much as possible, with blunted the hurt a little, not by much though. What made it worse was Matt's blasé attitude about the whole thing. The kid was an idiot, Tim knew, but he didn't think he was _such an idiot_, Julie had assured him that he was in fact that stupid, when he brought it up to her Saturday night at the Jason's house. They'd managed to win their first two games, but it had been just barely thanks in no small part to Matt Warner, who didn't seem to get the significance of him playing of Tim. He was passive in the whole situation taking more advantage of the off the field perks than realizing what starting really meant, to him, to the team, the school and this town. He wasn't appreciating his position and it was pissing Coach Taylor off. 

_Previous Friday night after the game_

_"Matt, a moment please?" Coach Taylor said as all the players went about showering and changing pumped up by their win. Coach headed toward the office in their visitor's locker room and shut the door behind Matt._

_"That was hell of a game out there," Coach said._

_Matt smiled, 'Thanks coach," he said._

_"I wasn't talking about you, in fact I was about to ask you where the hell you were out there, because your mind certainly wasn't on this game." Coach said staring at Matt who all of a sudden couldn't meet his eyes._

_"Sir," Matt started to say._

_"Do you realize the significance of you playing? Do you understand what this team has been through? Do you not see Tim Riggins standing on the sidelines in agony that he's not out there?" Coach asked._

_"Coach, I ran your plays fine." Matt said confused by why his coach was upset._

_"You're right, you did run my plays fine, but I expect more than fine out of my players Matt, I expect more than fine, and every single one of them out there has been giving me more than fine except for you." Coach Taylor said staring at Matt._

_"Coach…" Matt started to say, wanting to explain himself._

_"Don't excuse it. There's a reason you've been 2__nd__ string for so long, you show no passion, no drive. I want some drive son; I want to see you want this, for yourself and for your team. I expect more." Coach said before opening the door to let Matt know he was done with him._

Matt hadn't improved, sure he showed up for practice and did everything that the coaches asked him to do, and he did it well, but never more, he never game more and everyone on the team noticed. He took advantage of his status as first string fullback in a way that was so unattractive that no one was happy to see him play, except his skank rally girl, who really didn't care who was with, as long as it was football player, thus why she was _his_ rally girl. They were still winning games but it was always close and Coach Taylor could see his team getting frustrated with Matt's attitude. The Monday before homecoming, the first week in October, he called Dr. Stevens to get the all clear for Tim. He wanted Tim in that game Friday night, for Tim, for the team and for the town, most of all he couldn't wait to kick Matt back to 2nd string. He'd kick the kid off the team, but he didn't have a just reason not to, besides not liking him, and as much as hated to admit it, he needed him in case Tim couldn't play. After talking with Dr. Stevens and getting all clear, he contemplated how he was going to go about telling Tim and the team, he was playing. He came up with a scheme with Mac before heading into the team room to go over the game plan.

"Okay listen up men!" Coach Taylor said barely able to hold his grin. Everyone was suited up, pads sitting next to him ready to practice. "We have a lot to do men, this week's game is homecoming, there's a lot going on, but we still have a game to win, and against a touch team. I want to go over some plays with you all now, that we're going to go over when we get there." Coach Taylor said. He continued to outline some key plays between Smash and Jason before going in for the kill.

"Now this next play, 6 I was you step back and toss to 20, Smash when you get the ball, you're going to cross and hand it off to Riggins, he's going to be wide open, they won't know what them." Coach said before looking up.

"Don't you mean Warner coach," Tim said wishing that coach hadn't made a mistake.

"I said your name didn't I?" Coach said looking at Tim straight in the eye smiling.

"Coach…" Tim said his voice wavering a little.

"I got the all clear this afternoon, you're in!' Coach Taylor said smiling as the team erupted in joy. Tim stood smiling as his teammates slapped him on the back and yelled with him in joy. As Coach Taylor finished up his meeting and they headed out to the field to practice Tim stood standing on the wall of their room staring at the white board that had #33 written so clearly on it.

"Tim…" Coach said standing at the doorway, having forgotten his sunglasses in his office.

"I'm coming coach," Tim said looking back at his number on the board before grabbing his pads and running out onto the field. 

There was electricity to the team that day and for the rest of the week. The team decided amongst themselves that they wanted it to be a surprise, so they hadn't said anything to anyone, Coach didn't even tell Tami. When coach came into the locker room Friday afternoon to get ready for their game, he found Tim sitting on the bench in front of his locker already dressed despite it being 3 hours till game time, the rest of the team and the other coaches wouldn't be there for another hour at least. Coach walked by him to put his stuff on his desk, checked on a few things before going back out to the locker room. He didn't say anything to Tim at first, just sat down on the opposite bench, leaned his forearms on his knees and clasped his hands together.

"_Hey there God. This is going to be a little unconventional after all I am asking you to pray for one Tim Riggins. He's had a hell of a life, a hell of a year. But he's back and I'm asking you to watch over him, because he sure as hell deserves it. Make sure he stays healthy, and happy. Help him get back to his old self although I can see it's coming back slowly. I just want to thank you for keeping him here with us, for this team, for this town, for Jason, for my daughter, but also for me as well. Thank you for bringing this young man into my life." _ Coach said quietly. He kept his head bowed for a minute before lifting up to look over at Tim who was looking at him through glassy eyes, with a smile, Coach hadn't seen since the previous year, one that actually met his eyes. 

Arnett Mead, their opponent for homecoming didn't have a chance that night. Sure they were still a tough team to beat, they hadn't gotten worse since the previous season, but Tim Riggins was playing with his team again, and it made their team untouchable. Jason stood on the sidelines just right after the final whistle blew, cementing their victory, and looked along line at his team mates, he looked out on the field and he was brought back to a time that felt so long ago, the previous year, just before their opening game, the whole team had been out at the lake and Tim had been going on and on in his usual way about their hunting ranch, how he'd be the caretaker, living on 1 of what Jason made in the NFL. That part wasn't the important part that Jason remembered, he remembered Tim raising his beer and deciding they were going to "_touch god_" and they did last year. Especially with Tim being sick, But as Jason stood on the sidelines and looked out on the field, where his whole team now was, where Tim was, standing off to the side with Julie, foreheads joined smiling, Jason decided that more than any other time they'd played, tonight was the night they'd really _touched god_.


	5. Chapter 5: Epilogue

**Author's note:**

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all your amazing feedback. So here it is: the end. I'm sad to see it go but I have a horrible habit of starting stories and not finishing them, so in an effort to not leave everyone hanging I'm going to make my stories on the shorter side and more manageable. I hope everyone likes what I've done. I don't think you'll see a sequel especially as I'm working on another Tulie fic at the moment, but you never know. Happy reading!**

**Aquinna**

Five years later

Tim parked his truck out back behind the field and jumped out checking to see if Coach was out there. It was still a little early so he wasn't surprised when he didn't see him, after locking the truck; he headed for the locker rooms. The locker room was full of current players, joking around, as they got dressed for practice. The minute Tim walked through the door, everyone was silent staring in awe at Tim Riggins, star Fullback of the Dillion Panthers, now at playing with Mack Brown in Austin. Tim smiled to himself as he waved at the players then headed toward Coach Taylor's office. As he stood in the doorway watching Coach on his cell phone trying to reason with Mrs. Coach about something, Tim had to laugh, because some things never changed, and Coach Taylor trying to pull the wool over Tami Taylor's eyes unsuccessfully was one of them. It took Eric about five minutes before he realized someone was at his door before he quickly got off the phone with Tami.

"Tim!" Coach Taylor said going over to shake the boy's hand.

"Coach," Tim said smirking. "How's Mrs. Coach?" Tim said using his nickname for her even after all this time.

Coach Taylor laughed out loud, "oh you know…" He said laughing. "So what's up? Did Julie tell me you two were coming up this weekend?" Eric asked trying to remember if his daughter had told him that she and Tim were visiting.

Tim laughed again, poor Coach Taylor was getting a little forgetful; he claimed it was having 4 ½ - year-old Gracie Bell around that was making him forgetful. "No, I had to come over to see Doc Stevens." Tim said of his oncologist.

Coach Taylor looked up alarmed, "Is something wrong?" he asked worried.

"No I'm fine, I had my final check-up today actually, I'm officially cured," Tim said quietly looking down shy all of a sudden.

"Well hell Tim, why didn't you say anything?" Coach said slapping Tim on the back.

"You know…" Tim said quietly.

"So you headed back tonight, or you staying over?" Coach asked as he gathered his stuff to head out for practice.

"I'm going to stay over, Julie's coming in tomorrow, but don't tell Mrs. Coach, it's a surprise." Tim said quietly.

"Well good, you seeing Billy for dinner?" Coach asked as they headed out toward the field for practice.

"I think, actually I was hoping to talk to you for a moment though," Tim said starting to get nervous.

Eric wanted to say after practice, but it was obvious Tim had something on his mind, something Eric and Tami had a feeling was coming soon, given how long his daughter had been dating Tim. He shouted out to Mac to start practice, and then walked out to old practice field with Tim to talk.

"What's up?" he asked as they sat on the bleachers.

"Well I've been thinking about this for a while, but I didn't want to do anything until after my appointment. Julie doesn't know I'm here, and when she finds out I'm going to be in a whole hell of a lot of trouble." Tim started.

"I seem to remember her not enjoying when you've kept things from her in the past, it usually involves me being left alone with Gracie for the weekend while Tami's in Austin, and Jason having a sudden visitor for the weekend," Eric said sarcastically.

Tim had to laugh because that was usually what happened, he'd do something stupid, she'd get mad, kick him out, call Mrs. Coach and he'd be sleeping on Jason and Lyla's couch.

"Yeah well, this time it's for a good reason. I didn't tell her because I needed to talk to you and the girl is nosier than hell and I'd like this once to actually keep a surprise from her," Tim said. Over the years he'd planned various surprises for her and she _always_ snoop and sneak until she knew what he was planning and the whole thing would be ruined. She'd smile and give him credit for the thought and laugh at him for not being able to pull off a surprise despite the fact it was her fault it was ruined. "Coach, I'd like to ask Julie to marry me." Tim finally said quietly skipping the whole speech he'd planned, it didn't matter what words he used or reason's he gave, he loved the girl and that's what it came down to. "And I'd like your and Mrs. Coach's blessing." He added.

"It's about damn time," Eric said at which Tim looked up surprised, because he was older than Julie and she still had two years of college left, he wasn't expecting Coach to say that. "I know you're surprised but honestly Tami and I have been expecting it for a while. Tim I couldn't happier with the person Julie's fallen in love with. Sure when you two first got together I was worried, but you'd already started to turn yourself around and then came cancer, but you didn't give up and you didn't turn her away. I know that being away in Austin, was hard on you two, that you had your opportunities, but never once did I worry about how you'd treat my daughter, neither of us did. I know that you'll give her a good life, that you'll make her happy and take care of her and that's all I really could ever ask for in a man." Eric said honestly and sincerely, using a tone he'd rarely ever used with one of his players before.

"Thank you coach." Tim said obviously relieved.

"So you got a ring?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, Jay and I went last weekend." Tim said quietly.

"When are you going to do it?" Eric asked as they headed back toward the team's practice.

"Jay and I are planning a party at the lake Saturday night, Landry and Tyra are coming in from New York for the weekend as a surprise, and Jason's going to bring Lyla back on Saturday afternoon." Tim said. "You three don't have plans do you?" Tim asked, worried that they'd have plans. Over the years, Eric and Tami Taylor had become parents to him, but more than that they'd become friends, and it was important to him to have those people who he and Julie loved most around when he did this.

"No, I know Gracie will be happy to see all her aunts and Uncles," Eric said quietly as he smiled.

"Yeah," Tim said, "Thanks Coach," Tim added quietly.

Eric laughed, "Don't thank me yet, she hasn't said yes," He said smirking knowing that there was no way his daughter would turn Tim down.

After talking with Coach, Tim headed over to his old house where Billy stilled lived with his wife Sara and their 2-year-old daughter Maddie.

"Tim!" Sara said running out the door with Maddie on her him as she saw him pull into the driveway.

"Hey Sara!" Tim said getting out of the truck and hugging his sister-in-law.

"Dim!" Maddie said holding her hands out for her favorite uncle. She hadn't quite got a handle on her sounds yet, and her T always sounded like a D.

"Hey there squirt!" Tim said throwing Maddie up in the air before catching her.

"You're brother know you're here?" Sara asked as Tim followed them into the house.

"Yeah, I called him this morning. I had a appointment with Doc Stevens." Tim said sitting at the bar with Maddie in his arms.

Sara turned from the refrigerator alarmed, "Everything okay?" she asked.

"Fine, Just the 5-year check-up. I'm officially cured." Tim said smiling as he tickled Maddie's belly."

"That's awesome!" Sara said handing him a glass of lemonade. "How's school going? You ready to graduate?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I have to get through this season first though. Coach only let me go because it's a by week." Tim said. Normally missing two practices was grounds for missing a game, but he'd been planning this weekend for over a year, and had talked to his Coach months ago. "I have to be back Sunday for practice." Tim said.

"You staying through till then?" Sara asked as she prepared dinner.

"Yeah, Jules is coming down tomorrow. Jason and Lyla will be here on Saturday afternoon, they'll leave after Saturday morning practice, and Landry's bringing Tyra home as a surprise. They get in tomorrow night." Tim said. "We're having a party out by the lake Saturday night by the way." Tim said smiling.

Sara looked up just then, seeing Tim blowing raspberries on Maddie's belly, "What are you planning?" Sara asked having gotten to know Tim over the last couple of years, picking up when he was scheming or not. It helped her that Billy was the same way.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me. I just came from talking to Coach." Tim said as he pulled the ring out of from his pocket to show his sister-in-law, whom he'd grown to love as a sister, and mother figure.

Sara whipped her hand and took the box to look at the simple ring Tim had bought for Julie. Very fitting, a thin band, simple princess cut diamond with small diamonds on the band.

"Damn Tim, you've got taste!" Sara said laughing as she handed the ring back to him and went to stir dinner.

"You think she'll like it" Tim asked shyly.

"Did you hit your head on the weights again?" Sara asked referring to the time Tim had not been paying attention lifting last summer and slammed his head into the chest press bar loaded with weights after picking up a glove he'd dropped.

He just glared at her.

"Seriously Tim, you have nothing to worry about. She'll love the ring, and she will say yes." Sara said know what Tim was really worried about.

"This is not how I thought my life was going to turn out," Tim said quietly.

Sara sighed and turned off the stove coming to sit on the stool next to Tim, taking a sleeping Maddie in her arms, "How did you think it would turn out?" Sara asked.

"I thought I'd barely graduate high school. I'd find some dead end job here in Dillion, work construction or something, marry some girl I didn't actually love, have kids maybe, get drunk with Billy on the weekends. I find myself think I live in the twilight zone. I mean Sara I play 1st string Fullback for U T Austin. I have NFL teams calling me. Julie Taylor loves me!" Tim said quietly amazed.

"You're a pretty lucky guy," Sara said quietly.

"That doesn't even begin to cover what I feel," Tim said quietly.

Soon enough Billy was home and they were eating dinner, and Billy was giving Tim shit about asking Julie to marry him. Then they were talking about the NFL and how a couple of teams were giving him a look. Nothing like Jason, who was a 4-time all American and likely to be in the top 5 for the draft, but still. Tim was hoping for a team close to home, a dream would be the Cowboys, but he'd take the Texans, hell he'd take anyone who'd take him.

Friday flew by, Tim stayed at home with Maddie, while Sara and Billy went to work, waiting for Julie to come down after class, before they all went over to Coach's for dinner. Tami was distracted with Gracie when they all walked in and didn't notice Julie when they all walked in.

"Hey ya'll make yourselves at home, I just have to grab Gracie Bell!" Tami called from the kitchen as she washed her hands.

Julie giggled to herself, "Don't worry Mom, I'll grab her!" She called detouring to Gracie's room to grab the little girl who'd just woken from her nap.

"Thanks Jules!" Tami said distracted. Tim stood by the table and counted in his head watching at Tami's head popped up from the stove, "Jules!" she said dropping her spoon and running to her older daughter. It'd been a hectic last couple of weeks, and they hadn't been able to see each other in nearly a month, a record for the two women.

"Surprise mom," Julie said holding Gracie Bell in her arms as she hugged her mother and Gracie hugged her, happy to see her older sister and Tim.

Dinner was festive and relaxed, Coach grinning especially as he watched Tim and Julie play with Maddie and Gracie Bell.

Saturday, Tim was on his own as Julie needed "mom-bonding" time luckily because Tim was busy all day preparing for that night. He picked up Landry and Tyra at Landry's, before meeting Lyla and Jason at the lake to set up. The girls' had figured out what Tim was up to and were over the moon excite although they promised Tim they'd contain themselves once Julie got there so she wouldn't figure out what was up. Julie headed out with her family, as Tim had called and said he was hanging with Jason and a friend and he'd meet them out there.

When the Taylor's pulled up, Julie gasped. Their hangout had been transformed with twinkle lights and lanterns, a bonfire already burning and beach chairs set up with the picnic table Jason and Tim had built years ago covered and set up for a feast.

Dinner was magical; their whole family was there, everyone was happy, and Tim was healthy. As the meal progressed and got closer to dessert, he felt the ring box in his pocket and smiled to himself.

Just before Tami started to serve dessert, Tim stood.

"I have a few announcements," he said quietly. He'd gotten better with the speaking thing over the years, but having all the attention was still difficult for him, he was naturally a shy and quiet person, no need to say more than what was necessary.

He looked at Julie, "I lied to you," Tim stated with an impish grin, a grin he hoped would make up for the fact he lied to her.

"Really?" she asked smiling up at him.

"I wasn't in Houston on Thursday, I was here in Dillion, I had an appointment with Doc Stevens," Tim said smiling at her.

"Really?" Julie asked wondering why everyone was smiling. Usually his yearly check-ups were a nerve-wracking experience, the question of whether the cancer had come back or not always looming.

"My 5-year check-up, I'm officially cured," Tim said smiling. He was about to begin again but instead he found himself with an armful of Julie.

"Oh baby! That's amazing!" Julie said wrapping her arms around his neck.

Tim laughed, "Thanks, I was pretty happy myself," He said as he smirked and sat her back down, this would not work with her attached to him.

Julie batted his arm for making light of something so serious.

"I have another announcement," Tim said looking at Julie, "Can I continue?" he asked smiling at her with a glint in his eye.

"We'll discuss lying to me later," Julie said smiling.

"Sure we will," Tim said pulling the box out of his pocket and getting down on one knew, "I'm not very good with words, but here goes. I usually mess something up; you usually bust my surprise before I can give it to you. But the thing is Jules, I want that in the future, I want you there to bust all my surprises. I want you to help me fix my messes. More importantly, I want to help you fix _your_ messes and occasionally _actually_ pull off a surprise or two. What I'm tryin' to say is: Julie Taylor will you marry me?" Tim asked quietly, staring up into Julie's eyes as she sat there her lower lip trembling as tears streamed down her face.

It took her a minute before she jumped in his arms, "I promise I won't ruin _all_ your surprises, but I will help you fix _all_ your messes though," she said kissing him.

"Is that a yes?" Tim asked with her in his arms.

"Yes, yes I'll marry you Tim." She said as he slipped the ring on her finger and their family erupted in cheers and they were brought back to earth.

The celebration went into high gear, Tyra, Lyla, Tami and Sara immediately pulled Julie aside to admire her ring and talk dresses while the guys gave Tim some good-natured ribbing about "tying himself down" and a "permanent ball and chain." Tim just smiled and looked over at Julie who was by then sitting with her mother quietly off to the side and chatting excitedly as they held out her hand and admired her ring.

Later on, after the parents had headed back to town and it was just the three couples, Tim went out to the dock to think for a moment, he was sitting quietly hanging his legs over, drinking a beer slowly when Julie came and sat beside him, inserting herself into his space.

"I remember this place," she said quietly thinking back to all those years ago, when they'd come out here to tell Tyra, Landry and Lyla. How Julie came out to the dock after Tim had blurted out his news of cancer.

"It's better this time," He said quietly as he twirled a string of her hair in his finger, a favorite hobby of his.

"I'd say so," Julie said quietly. "How long have you been planning this?" she asked.

" A while, I didn't want to do anything until I got the all clear from Doc Stevens. Jay and I went last weekend to get the ring when you were at dance. I just… I want to be your husband. I'm graduating and who knows where I'll be next year, but I just I got to thinking about the 5 years and what it means. How I can really start to live, and" he paused for a moment before looking at her with his trademark smirk, "I'm going to be cheesy here, and if you tell anyone I'll deny it till the day I die" he said smiling at her. Julie smiled and motioned zipping her lips and throwing away the key, although Tim knew in all reality what he was about to say would be repeated to Lyla and Tyra word-for-word later that night, and by default Jason and Landry which meant he'd be getting a lot of shit in the future, he didn't care though.

"I've been thinking about living my life, how I have been, always a little cautious to get comfortable in case it came back. But now, now I don't have to be cautious, I don't have to always wonder "what if." And when I was thinking this Jules, I was thinking I want you, I want you when I live my life." Tim said before kissing her.


End file.
